SINGAPORE — As co-founder of The Real Singapore (TRS), he allowed articles that “festered and propagated xenophobic and racist feelings” to be published, so that he could profit from it.

Deeming that he had exploited the unhappiness of many Singaporeans over immigration policies perceived to be liberal, a district judge on Tuesday (June 28) sentenced Yang Kaiheng (picture) to eight months in prison for sedition. 

Yang, 27, had admitted to being the proprietor and distributor of the now-defunct sociopolitical site last Friday, and pleaded guilty to six counts of sedition. Another two charges of sedition and failing to produce financial statements on the website’s advertising revenue to the police were taken into consideration during sentencing. 

Handing down the sentence, District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt said a custodial sentence was justified, as there is “an overriding public interest to protect the integrity of the multiracial and multicultural fabric of this country”.

“At the heart of this case against (Yang) lies the exploitation of such feelings purely for financial gain and not for some noble ideology (misguided or otherwise),” he said. As proprietor and distributor of the website, Yang had permitted articles that “promoted ill-will and hostility against various foreign nationalities”. 

One of the articles cited in Yang’s sedition charges claimed that a Filipino family caused an incident between the police and Thaipusam participants by complaining about the playing of musical instruments during the procession. Evidence tendered by the prosecution showed that TRS raked in about A$474,000 (S$474,722) in advertising revenue from December 2013 to April last year.  

The district judge cited the outcome of the Brexit referendum — in which United Kingdom voters voted to leave the European Union — as an example of how “nationalism can degenerate very rapidly into xenophobia, racism, intolerance and violence”. 

“Brexit is an example and a reminder of how strong, uncertain and unpredictable these emotions can be, and the ramifications that these feelings can and have caused,” he said. 

While the defence argued that the articles were penned or edited by Yang’s wife Ai Takagi, the judge ruled that TRS had been Yang’s brainchild, and he had full control over the content. He said: “He was instrumental in setting up TRS and enhancing TRS to become a revenue generating business, and concurrently permitting his wife to kick up a storm on the Internet with zero control so as to generate even more revenue.”

The prosecution, which had asked for a sentence of eight months’ jail, argued that Yang was a “calculating opportunist” and was highly culpable. 

“The publication of the seditious articles flowed from the editorial strategy conceived of — and approved of — by Yang,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor G Kannan. “Yang connived with Takagi to publish such content … Takagi merely implemented Yang’s editorial strategy, as per his instructions.”

Furthermore, Yang had failed to exercise oversight of the website’s content, even after learning that the articles had been defamatory and showed contempt of court. 

“Unlike Takagi, Yang was a Singaporean, and ought to be attuned to the sensitivity of race and nationality in our society … notwithstanding this, Yang failed to take down the seven articles from the TRS website even after being arrested,” said DPP Kannan.

He added that Yang had treated investigations and the trial as a game. “Catch me if you can. I’ll lie and keep on lying until you confront me with evidence. The foundation of his defence is lies, lies and more lies —  even under oath,” said DPP Kannan. 

Defence lawyer Choo Zheng Xi countered that Yang had been scarred by the entire episode and had given up sociopolitical blogging. 

Calling for a five-month prison term, he argued that Yang did not have a writing or editorial role in the website. He said: “He was not an editor with day-to-day oversight and involvement in the generation of content for the TRS website. He consumed the content on the website much like any ordinary member of the public would, reading it three or four times a week.”

Takagi, 23, was sentenced to 10 months’ jail in March for identical charges, and started serving her sentence the following month. 

Yang will begin serving his sentence on July 5.