Web portal owner jailed for sedition in Singapore

A 27-year-old owner of a website that fanned anti-foreigner sentiments in Singapore was on Tuesday jailed for eight months after he pleaded guilty to sedition.

Yang Kaiheng, who could have been jailed for up to three years and/or fined up to of 5,000 Singapore dollars per charge for sedition, admitted that he used his popular site to “promote feelings of ill-will and hostility” and to fan anti- foreigner sentiments in Singapore.

Mr Yang was the owner of now-defunct sociopolitical site ‘The Real Singapore’ (TRS). Mr Yang pleaded guilty last week to six sedition charges.

His 23-year-old wife Ai Takagi was the editor of the website and was sentenced to 10 months in prison for publishing “ seditious articles” intended to “provoke unwarranted hatred against foreigners” in April.