A 38-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced on Thursday, January 29, to four weeks and three days' jail and fined S$2,000 after he took photos of an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer at Woodlands Checkpoint and later lied to police about his involvement in uploading the images to Facebook.
Wong Jeo Wah pleaded guilty to three charges: using insulting words towards an ICA officer, providing false information to the police, and an unrelated offence of voluntarily causing hurt. Another four charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
The court heard that the incident occurred on August 12, 2024, when Wong drove to Woodlands Checkpoint with his fiancée and stopped at a departure lane counter for immigration clearance. The ICA officer on duty, Ryan Seah, asked Wong to wind down the passenger window and remove the window shade so he could check for passengers in the rear of the vehicle.
Although the window had been lowered, the shade remained in place, obstructing the officer's view. Wong eventually removed it but grumbled aloud and uttered "wah lao", which Seah overheard. When asked to repeat what he had said, Wong claimed he was speaking to his fiancée. Seah then called for assistance while Wong remained in his vehicle.
During this time, Wong used his mobile phone to take photos and videos of the officer within a protected area. Other ICA officers arrived and instructed Wong to delete the images, which he did in their presence. He was subsequently allowed to leave.
However, while Wong was in Malaysia, the images and videos were later retrieved and uploaded to the Facebook group Complaint Singapore using an account named "Sky SG". Seah was alerted to the post and made a police report.
On August 16, 2024, when Wong returned to Singapore via Woodlands Checkpoint, his vehicle was stopped and he was referred to ICA officers. Immigration officer Muhammad Haziq Hazli attended to him and later arrested Wong following instructions. While allowed to use his phone to contact his next-of-kin to retrieve the vehicle, Wong was observed using his phone for unrelated matters and deleting a WhatsApp chat.
When Officer Haziq questioned him, Wong reacted angrily and called the officer "stupid", repeating the insult even after being informed that the interaction was being recorded on a body-worn camera.
Following his arrest, Wong gave a statement to the police in which he falsely claimed he did not own the Facebook account responsible for the post. He said he had sent the photos to a friend, who could have uploaded them instead.
The police investigations later found that the Sky SG account was linked to Wong's residential IP address and registered with his email address. Confronted with the evidence in September 2024, Wong admitted to creating the account but continued to deny making the post.
The incident was later featured in a CNA Insider documentary titled World's Busiest Land Crossing: Inside Singapore Woodlands Checkpoint, under a segment highlighting difficult encounters with travellers.
In seeking sentencing, the prosecution asked for a jail term of between four weeks and three days and five weeks and five days, along with a fine of S$2,000. Wong has previous convictions dating back to 2004, including a 2021 offence for voluntarily causing hurt, for which he was jailed.
In mitigation, Wong's lawyer said his client was remorseful and has been taking on odd jobs to support himself and his elderly mother. He added that Wong hoped to move on from the incident.
