Earlier today (Jun 23), a district court granted an application by Iris Koh to leave the country for Malaysia to seek alternative medical treatment for her thyroid cancer.
Koh, the founder of the anti-vaccine group Healing the Divide, was charged in January with conspiring to defraud the Ministry of Health (MOH) over fake-Covid-19 vaccination records. She has been out on a S$20,000 bail since Feb 4. District Judge Ng Peng Hong imposed an additional bail sum of S$30,000 for Koh to travel to the city of Malacca and get a second opinion from a doctor there.
Koh’s defence counsel Wee Pan Lee said that she previously wanted to travel to two medical institutes in Malaysia — Malacca and the western Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan — but now plans to only go to Malacca. The Singapore General Hospital (SGH) recommended that she remove her thyroid glands, but Wee explained that Koh was apprehensive about it. “As a result of that, she is seeking an alternative”, he said.
To this, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jiang Ke-Yue sought additional conditions, including a further cash bail sum of S$40,000 and reiterated his concerns about “gaps” in Wee’s supporting documentation.
District Judge Ng decided to impose an additional S$30,000 bail that can be furnished by another bailor. He also said that Koh would have to give a complete itinerary before travelling, remain contactable by the investigation officer, give full details of where she is staying in Malaysia, as well as her contact number there, to the investigation officer and provide supporting documents on her alternative treatment and surrender her passport to the authorities upon returning to Singapore.
Last week, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said on Friday (June 17) that it has amended a graphic on its Facebook page to “avoid misunderstanding” after some people suggested the original resembled a same-sex couple.
The two-panelled graphic was posted on May 14 showing two parents drying their laundry on bamboo poles at the age of 29, then doing so on a new retractable rack aged 65. The amendments came after people began suggesting that the parents both looked like women. Koh also questioned whether women are now allowed to get married to one another and buy a flat.
She later posted on her own Facebook page: “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) stuff, afterall, I have many friends who are gay etc… Seems very Americanised to me. Are we being infiltrated by liberal ideals covertly?” /TISG