Singapore civil activist Jolovan Wham to plead not guilty over ‘smiley face’ protest

Migrant rights activist Jolovan Wham had held up signs in public on two occasions, including one which featured a hand-drawn smiley face on the placard

Public protests of any form are illegal unless they are held at Singapore’s sole free speech park with a police permit

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Singapore civil activist Jolovan Wham, clad in a T-shirt with a smiley face, at the State Courts on November 23, 2020. Photo: Dewey Sim

Dewey Simin SingaporeandBhavan Jaipragas

Published: 1:31pm, 23 Nov 2020Updated: 10:06pm, 23 Nov 2020

A Singaporean civil activist, once branded by authorities as a “recalcitrant” flouter of the country’s tough rules on peaceful public assemblies, said on Monday that he would plead not guilty to two charges of staging a one-person protest without police permits, including on an occasion in which he held up a piece of cardboard with a smiley face on it.

Jolovan Wham, 40, was not required to enter a plea in a hearing at the State Courts, Singapore’s court of first instance. The court imposed bail of S$15,000 (US$11,170) in the brief preliminary hearing. Wham arrived in court wearing a T-shirt and mask that were emblazoned with a smiley face. In the courtroom, he put on a shirt over the T-shirt.

At least two supporters were seen in the court’s public gallery wearing masks with similar smiley-face prints. Wham told This Week in Asia after posting bail that he “won’t be pleading guilty”.

“It is bizarre that I am being charged for actions that have not disturbed public order or safety,” he said. “It makes a joke of our constitution, which guarantees us freedom of speech and assembly.”

Wham also took issue with the court’s decision to increase his bail amount from S$8,000 to S$15,000. The amount was “excessive given that the charges against me have not been proven and I have been dutifully attending court and police interviews”, he said.