The Attorney-General's Chambers AGC said on Thursday that no further action will be taken by the police against MP Louis Ng under the Public Order Act for holding up a sign in support of hawkers during the COVID-19 epidemic.
The police investigation was completed, according to the statement.
The case of Ng is different from that of activist Jolovan Wham, who was charged and convicted of taking part in an assembly in a prohibited area. He had held up a sign that read Drop the charges against Terry Xu and Daniel De Costa outside the State Courts in December 2018.
An AGC spokeswoman said that Jolovan Wham was charged and convicted because he was demonstrating in a prohibited area the State Court entrance. This is an offence under s 15 2 of the POA Public Order Act. Mr Wham did not offer any defence. The facts of the case involving Mr Jolovan Wham are different from the case involving Mr Louis Ng. On June 20, 2020, Yishun Park Hawker Centre visited Mr Ng, and asked Singaporeans to support hawkers as they worked hard to make ends meet and to provide delicious food for us, as well as to make ends meet. Our hawker heroes need our support more than ever. The post contained five photos of Mr Ng with hawkers, in which he could hold up a sign with the words Support Them. The police then conducted an investigation on March 3, 2021, as there was a possible offence of public assembly without a permit by Mr Ng.
On the same day, he wrote on Facebook that he was on his regular walkabout and wanted to urge residents to support the hawkers.
I was there to make sure our hawkers were doing okay. He said that they suffered badly during the circuit breaker. I wanted to urge our residents to support our hawkers and held a sign indicating this and took photos with the hawkers. Mr Ng was asked by the police to make a statement, and had done so.