Singapore charges activist Jolovan Wham for holding up a smiley-face sign in public

Police have charged activist Jolovan Wham with violating public order, on the grounds that he had carried out a one-man protest

Wham has been in jail twice this year – for questioning the Singapore judiciary’s independence, and for inviting Hong Kong’s Joshua Wong to speak via Skype at an event that did not have a police permit

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Jolovan Wham holds a cardboard with a drawing of a smiley face in Singapore on March 28, 2020. Photo: Handout via Reuters

Published: 3:00pm, 20 Nov 2020Updated: 3:00pm, 20 Nov 2020

One afternoon in March, Singaporean activist Jolovan Wham stood on a pavement, held up a piece of cardboard with a smiley face drawn on it, took a picture and posted it to social media.

On Thursday, police charged Wham with violating public order, on the grounds that he had carried out a one-man protest in Singapore, where public demonstrations are heavily restricted and the ruling party insists on “zero tolerance” for unauthorised gatherings.

Wham, 40, said the smiley-face sign was intended to show solidarity with a climate campaigner who had stood in the same spot days earlier with a placard saying Singapore “is better than oil”. The climate activist, Nguyen Nhat Minh, said police questioned him for 10 hours following the incident.

Civil rights activist Jolovan Wham. Photo: Reuters

Wham was also charged on Thursday in a December 2018 incident in which he stood outside the main courts building and held up a piece of paper expressing support for two journalists who were being charged with criminal defamation for an article alleging government corruption.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of about US$3,700.

Wham said he would appear in court Monday to contest the charges.