SINGAPORE: A performer at a Hungry Ghost Festival event was fined S$1,000 on Wednesday (Apr 24) for shouting a gang slogan.

Malaysian Goh Wee Chong, 39, was performing as a getai singer at the event at a carpark at Block 101, Yishun Avenue 5, on Sep 7 last year.



There were hundreds of people at the event, including Yishun residents, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Gabriel Choong.

During his performance at around 10.30pm, he got off the stage and continued singing while standing in the crowd, the court heard.



One of the audience members went up to Goh and asked him to shout some words, which was the name of a triad society in Singapore.

Goh did not want to shout it at first, as he was aware that it was a gang name. However, he passed the microphone to the audience member, who shouted the gang name before returning the mic.



Goh later shouted the phrase in Hokkien, adding a word to say that the area was in the gang's "territory".

"The said phrase was threatening in nature, as it implied that the event was held on the territory of a triad society in Singapore," said the prosecutor.

He added that the audience heard Goh's words and were alarmed. Goh went back onstage and completed his song, and the event ended soon after.

After the incident, a video of Goh's actions was uploaded to Facebook by a member of the audience.

An anonymous person submitted the information through the SGSecure app, saying that they had seen the Facebook post of people shouting gang slogans at the dinner, and a police report was made.

Goh pleaded guilty to a single charge of using threatening words. He could have been fined up to S$5,000 under the Protection from Harassment Act.