Just two days after the Minister of Home Affairs K Shanmugam warned against Islamophobia in the country, an actual allegedly Islamophobic attack was carried out.
On Apr 1, the minister was alerted about an incident in which three students — aged 14 to 16 — from Geylang’s Madrasah Al-Ma’arif Al-Islamiah were assaulted in the morning at Paya Lebar MRT station. The school’s discipline mistress had put a call out on Facebook, detailing how the three girls were kicked, hit by a “plastic bag containing a heavy item”, with another victim getting the same beating on one of her eyes.
“I have asked the Police to investigate the matter. We will get to the bottom of it and ensure that justice is done,” Shanmugam stated, while advising the public not to jump to any conclusions pending investigations.
The day after the incident, 48-year-old Koh Weng Onn was nabbed for the attacks. “The Police take a stern view of acts that could threaten the racial and religious harmony in Singapore,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Tan Chye Hee. “Any person who caused hurt to others on the basis of their race or religion will be dealt with severely in accordance with the law.”
The police have arrested a 48 year old Singaporean, in connection with the assault on the three Madrasah students….
Posted by K Shanmugam Sc on Saturday, 2 April 2016
The irony lies in the fact that Koh’s elder brother is himself a Muslim convert. Speaking to TODAY, 49-year-old Muhammad Johan Koh has since apologised to the Malay-Muslim community on behalf of his brother, who was said to be suffering from mental issues since young. Reportedly, the man was admitted to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in the 1990s but refused treatment.
“We were always afraid that something like this would happen one day,” the elder Koh said.
In court this morning, the suspect was charged with three counts — two of committing a rash act by swinging a plastic bag containing a 1.5-litre bottle of water at the faces of two female victims. The third count was for kicking the other student on her right thigh, which was “racially aggravated”, according to court documents.
He was also noted to have made a “disproportionately high” number of 90 police reports over five years — mostly due to his paranoid beliefs.
The prosecution has asked for Koh to be remanded for two weeks to undergo psychiatric evaluation at IMH, and will have his case heard again on Apr 18.
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