By Chua Hian Hou, Zeslene Mao, Luke Vijay & Karen Zainal

A CONTROVERSIAL Facebook group has been taken offline, apparently by the United States-based social networking website.

The move follows the arrest of three of the group's members, allegedly for making racist comments against Indians here.

Before it was shut down yesterday, membership at the group stood at 2,300 - 300 more than on Wednesday, when news of its controversial nature broke.

And more controversial posts were still being put up despite news of the arrests.

Facebook did not reply to The Straits Times' repeated requests for a response, but it appears to be responsible for taking down the group.

The group's two teenage administrators, who initiated the group and are the only other people with the power to remove it, could not have done so because they had already quit the group following the arrests on Sunday.

The Straits Times understands that the pair, Mr Soo Siu Weng and Mr Goh Jun Yi, were among the three arrested. The identity of the third male teenager arrested remains unknown.

The trio are out on bail pending further investigations. They have not been charged.

Those convicted of promoting ill will and hostility between races here, an offence under the Sedition Act, can be fined up to $5,000 and jailed up to three years.

Mr Soo and Mr Goh are students at the Singapore Polytechnic and members of its Current Affairs and Debating Club.

The polytechnic did not reply to an e-mail query from The Straits Times on the matter.

Mr Soo, 17, hung up on The Straits Times when contacted on his mobile number; Mr Goh, 18, could not be reached.

Friends and classmates described the duo as well-behaved; they said the pair have never displayed any signs of racism or made racist comments in school before.

A mutual friend of Mr Soo and Mr Goh, known to be close and active members of the club, went as far as to call them 'good boys'.

'The (Facebook) group was probably created just as a joke,' he said.

Another friend who also did not want to be named said the pair got along well with Indian and Malay classmates. He added: 'I feel this is a misunderstanding. We are all teenagers after all.'

The two friends who spoke to The Straits Times did not join the Facebook group discussion.

Mr Soo is in his first year in aeronautical engineering and enjoys playing basketball. His profile on Friendster, another social networking site, listed 'studying, (computer) gaming, joking, socialising and eating' as his interests.

He also has an infrequently updated blog called 'Misunderstood Beng'.

Much less is known of Mr Goh, a second-year mechanical engineering student. After news of the arrests broke, he changed his Facebook name and removed his profile picture.

Meanwhile, Media Development Authority of Singapore spokesman Cassandra Tay said the best way to deal with issues like online hate speech was through 'public education and parental involvement'.

Equipping youths, parents and educators with necessary cyber-wellness knowledge can make the young become more responsible media users, she said. To this end, the agency, which oversees media-related issues, is working with Touch Community Services to run cyber-wellness programmes in schools.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.