07 March 2016•Update: 07 March 2016
By Kirsten Han
SINGAPORE
One of two editors of a now-defunct Singapore news and politics website accused of running “inflammatory” articles relating to racial and religious issues has indicated she would plead guilty to sedition charges, local media reported Monday.
Japanese-Australian Ai Takagi, 23, intends to plead guilty to seven charges of sedition and one charge of failing to provide financial statements about advertising revenue to investigators, according to Channel NewsAsia.
Her husband and fellow editor, 27-year-old Singaporean Yang Kaiheng, continues to deny the charges and will proceed with the trial.
Takagi and Yang had ran the website The Real Singapore from Australia, where they were both studying at the University of Brisbane.
The website had published commentaries and reports on current affairs and news, until it was shut down in May 2015 after Singapore's media regulator suspended its operating license.
The couple was arrested on Feb. 4, 2015 while in Singapore, and later charged with sedition for publishing articles deemed to "promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different classes of the population of Singapore."
One of the articles highlighted as problematic involved false allegations that a Filipino family had complained about noise relating to a Hindu Thaipusam procession, leading to a small scuffle between police officers and a few participants.
Other allegedly seditious articles involved “derogatory” comments about immigrants from China, India and the Philippines in Singapore.
Under Singapore law, it is an offence to promote feelings of hostility between different races or classes, and the city-state's leaders often point to the multiracial and multi-religious makeup of the population to emphasize the need to maintain social harmony.
However, immigration has become a major issue on the small island – featuring heavily in both the 2011 and 2015 general elections – with many Singaporeans frustrated by the number of foreigners, who are perceived as competition for resources and jobs.
Non-citizens make up nearly 40 percent of the overall population of Singapore.
In its order for access to The Real Singapore to be disabled, the Media Development Authority (MDA) observed in May that the website had "deliberately fabricated" or "inserted falsehoods" into articles to "make the articles more inflammatory".
"The MDA believes this editorial strategy of deceiving readers and doctoring articles was an attempt to increase traffic to TRS, and thus boost advertising revenue,” the regulator had said in a statement.
“In so doing, TRS, including its two foreign editors, were seeking to make profit at the expense of Singapore’s public interest and national harmony," it added.
Speaking in court Monday, Deputy Public Prosecutor G. Kannan said that bank statements showed that both Takagi and Yang earned a revenue of between A$20,000 to 50,000 ($14,800-37,000) per month.
He described the duo as "wildly successful in their efforts to profit from the ill-will and hostility that they were peddling", The Straits Times reported.
Speaking on behalf of the couple, defense lawyer Choo Zheng Xi said that Takagi had taken responsibility for her role in running the site, and that it was "not an easy decision for her to make."
Yang, however, had chosen to claim trial to "clear his name".
"This was also not an easy decision for Mr Yang to make: he wants nothing more than for his nightmare to end," Channel NewsAsia reported Choo saying to the media.
Takagi's case will appear before a judge on March 8, while Yang's trial will begin on March 11.
The maximum punishment under the Sedition Act is three years' imprisonment and a fine of 5,000 Singapore ($3,600) dollars for each charge.
