\n<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE: Upset that his work contract had not been renewed, a man sent pork slices to seven mosques along with details of a woman he blamed for his employment situation.<\/p>\n
Bill Tan Keng Hwee, a 62-year-old Singaporean man, was sentenced on Monday (May 11) to 15 months’ jail.<\/p>\n
He pleaded guilty to three charges of wounding religious feelings under the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act and one count of harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act.<\/p>\n
Another five charges were taken into consideration.<\/p>\n
The court heard that Tan worked as an operations support officer at a redacted location since December 2024.<\/p>\n
A gag order was imposed to protect the identity of the victim of the harassment charge.<\/p>\n
On Sep 11, 2025, Tan was informed that his contract would not be renewed.<\/p>\n
This upset him and he surmised that the victim must have made the decision not to renew his contract.<\/p>\n
He devised a plan to send letters containing pork slices and the victim’s information to mosques, intending for the recipients to call the victim and harass her.<\/p>\n
He bought pork, paper and envelopes and assembled packages containing letters with offensive words, the victim’s phone number and pork slices.<\/p>\n
On Sep 15, 2025, Tan mailed the letters to seven mosques he picked at random.<\/p>\n
When staff members at the various mosques received the letters four days later and found the pork inside, they called the police.<\/p>\n
One of the staff members at one of the mosques called the victim and told her about the parcel. She also lodged a police report.<\/p>\n
Deputy Public Prosecutor Selene Yap sought 15 to 18 months’ jail, saying that she could not over-emphasise the extent to which general deterrence was the key sentencing consideration.<\/p>\n
“Offences involving religious relations … threaten the very fabric of our society, and a sufficiently deterrent sentence is needed to send a clear signal,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Yap added that Tan had “essentially weaponised religion to get the outcome he wanted, which is to harass the victim”.<\/p>\n
Defence lawyer Terence Hua said his client’s primary objective was never to attack the Muslim community.<\/p>\n
In sentencing, District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz said Singapore’s social fabric rests upon “the peaceful co-existence of persons of different races and faiths”.<\/p>\n
Religious and racial harmony is not merely an aspirational ideal, but forms “the very bedrock of public order and national cohesion”, she added.<\/p>\n
Such harmony is “inherently fragile”, leaves little room for error and “must therefore be vigilantly and jealously guarded”, said the judge.<\/p>\n
She said Tan had deliberately targeted multiple mosques by sending letters containing pork and labelled them with an offensive note.<\/p>\n
“This was a calculated, deeply offensive and inherently inflammatory act designed to exploit deeply rooted religious sensitivities and wound the religious feelings of the Muslim community,” said the judge.<\/p>\n
“The individuals handling and opening the letters would undoubtedly have experienced shock, disgust, distress and outrage upon discovering their contents.”<\/p>\n
She found no merit in the defence’s submission that attacking the Muslim community was not Tan’s primary objective, and that it was merely a means of exacting revenge against the victim.<\/p>\n
“In pursuing that vendetta, the accused was prepared to wound the religious feelings of an entire religious community,” said the judge.<\/p>\n
She said the courts must respond “firmly and unequivocally” to conduct of this nature to make unmistakably clear that acts capable of inflaming religious tensions, sowing discord and threatening public peace will be met with “swift and stern sanction”.<\/p>\n
For knowingly wounding religious feelings, Tan could have been jailed for up to five years, fined, or both.<\/p>\n
For causing harassment by insulting communication, he could have been jailed for up to six months, fined up to S$5,000, or both.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n