Ministry of Home Affairs Police call Gilbert Goh for questioning
The Police called Gilbert Goh for questioning concerning the rally that he held in Hong Lim Park. I was a speaker at the rally, so I have an interest in knowing if any offense had been committed. 

I learned later that the Police called Gilbert Goh in response to a police report made by somebody (identity not disclosed) that a foreigner had participated at the rally.

An Isreali tourist had attended the rally and asked a question at the rally. Does this amounts to "participation"?

It seemed that the law made it a responsibility for the organizer to ensure that no foreigners "participate" in the event.

I question the law, which is unreasonable. How is it possible for the organizer to check that no foreigner attend the rally? The organizer does not have the resources or the power to check on who attend the rally.

If this is the law, there must be clear signs installed by the state to inform foreigners that they are not allowed to attend the rally. This is the responsibility of the state, and cannot be reasonably imposed on the event organizer.

Some people suspected that the Isreali national was planted by the "authority" to give trouble to the event organizer. I think that this is not likely, as the "authority" would not know about the "Q&A" session. Maybe, Gilbert Goh had announced earlier that there will be a "Q&A" session, and this "planted question" was arranged. 

If Gilbert Goh had been aware about the possible infringement, he could have told the foreigner that he was not allowed to ask the question. But he might have overlooked it.

Should the Police call Gilbert Goh for questioning? It is obvious that Gilbert Goh did not arrange for the participation of the foreigner. The Police could dropped the matter, and not call Gilbert Goh for questioning. 

I have made three police reports in the past on alleged scams. I learned that the Police did not follow up on my report in these cases. They did not call the alleged scammer for questioning. They concluded that there were "insufficient evidence", even though I had lodged a few hundred pages of documents to support the complaint in one case. I know that it is the practice of the Police to only follow up on a report that they consider to be in the public interest.

Maybe the Police consider it to be in the public interest to call Gilbert Goh for questioning and make him feel scared for organizing the event. Maybe Gilbert Goh will be less enthusiastic about organizing similar events in the future?

Gilbert Goh spent two hours to be questioned by the investigator, who was polite in dealing with the matter. At the end of the questioning, the investigator asked Gilbert to sign a statement, which he refused on the grounds that he was not advised by a lawyer. Gilbert could have signed a statement, if it was a statement of fact, e.g. that he did not arranged for he foreigner to participate in the event, and is not an admission of a legal offense. 

This is where the matter now rest. I made my observation from reports in the social media about what had happened. 

I believe that the Police should now close the matter and not give the complaint (submitted in the police report) the attention that it clearly did not deserve.

Tan Kin Lian

Vote - the Police should now close the issue

 

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