SINGAPORE: When a man took to social media to complain about how he was allegedly treated by an Immigration & Checkpoints (ICA) officer at a departure lane at Woodlands Checkpoint, many netizens advised him to take down his post warning him that what he had done is against the law.
However, he did not take heed, although, at this point, his post has been removed.
But now, 37-year-old Wong Jeo Wah faces the consequences of his unwise actions. On Aug 17, he was handed one count under the Infrastructure Protection Act of taking photos and videos without permission, CNA reported.
On Aug 12, Wong, who goes by Sky Sg on Facebook, posted pictures and short video clips of the ICA officer on the Complaint Singapore page. His post fully showed the face of the ICA officer he encountered and mentioned the officer’s first name.
“Driver seh or officer seh?” he wrote, adding a claim that the officer then asked him to come into his office, which he called a complete waste of time as it lasted half an hour. He felt the officer called him in “just for not answering back the way he expected…”
Many netizens warned him that taking photos and videos of the officer and posting them publicly could get him into trouble, which has happened.
By Aug 15, ICA posted on its Facebook page that it was aware of the post and added:
“Our investigations show that the driver made uncalled-for remarks when our officer had instructed him to remove the right passenger window sunshade during departure immigration clearance.
The driver also took photographs and videos of our officer when the latter was contacting his supervisors to report the incident.”
ICA wrote that the Duty Officer then gave him a stern warning and that Wong agreed to delete the photos and videos he had taken. After learning that instead of doing so, he uploaded them, ICA referred the matter to the Police.
CNA reported the prosecution as saying on Aug 17 that he may face another charge under the Protection from Harassment Act (POHA) and that his wife is not allowed to be his bailor since she is a witness for the prosecution.
Wong, who returns to court next week, was offered bail of S$10,000. If found guilty, he could be slapped with a maximum fine of S$20,000, sent to jail for as long as two years, or both. /TISG
Read also: Brickbats for man who exposed photo of ICA officer and complained of unprofessional conduct