SDP supporter begins jail term

June 7, 2008
SDP supporter begins jail term
By Jeremy Au Yong
JAILED: Yap Keng Ho, also known by his online moniker Uncle Yap, was fined $2,000 last Friday for addressing a crowd illegally. In lieu of paying the fine, he has to serve 10 days in jail. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW SINGAPORE Democratic Party supporter Yap Keng Ho began a 10-day jail term yesterday after withdrawing his appeal against a conviction for speaking in public without a permit. He was fined $2,000 last Friday by District Judge Jasvender Kaur after being found guilty of addressing a crowd illegally on April 8, 2006, in Woodlands. In lieu of paying the fine, Yap would have to spend 10 days in jail. Both he and SDP secretary-general Chee Soon Juan - who was also convicted for the same offence last week - decided to appeal. But Yap changed his mind when he went to the Subordinate Court yesterday. A ally of Chee, and better known by his online moniker Uncle Yap, he said on his blog on Thursday night that he decided against appealing as he did not want to trouble his lawyer, Mr M. Ravi, anymore. Going to jail would also enable him to complete a hunger strike that he claimed he started on Wednesday as a show of support for Chee, Chee's sister Siok Chin, and former Singaporean lawyer Gopalan Pallichadath Nair. Chee and his sister are serving jail terms for contempt of court. Nair, now an American citizen, is out on bail after he was arrested here last Saturday for allegedly insulting a High Court judge. In his blog, Yap said he began his hunger strike at a park in front of the Istana. But he complained that it was 'too full of school holiday students day and night'. Both Yap and Chee face eight charges each of speaking in public without a permit at different locations between November 2005 and April 2006. Two of these charges have been dealt with. The six remaining charges against them are pending and a pre-trial conference to set a court date for the remaining charges is scheduled for later this month.