By Carolyn Quek

A CHRISTIAN couple were jailed eight weeks yesterday for distributing and possessing anti-Muslim and anti-Catholic publications, but this did not mark the end of Singapore's first trial under the Sedition Act.

SingTel technical officer Ong Kian Cheong, 50, and UBS associate director Dorothy Chan Hien Leng, 46, have appealed against the conviction and are out on $15,000 bail each.

District Judge Roy Neighbour decided on a jail term, even though a fine was allowed for under the law, as the couple's offences affected the very foundation of Singapore society, which is multi-religious and multiracial.

Couple no longer at their old church

By Yen Feng

THE couple who were given jail terms yesterday for distributing seditious material no longer worship at the Berean Christian Church.

Members said they had left the church after their arrest last year because the couple, Ong Kian Cheong and Dorothy Chan, did not want to implicate the church in the matter.

Church pastor Kenny Cheong, who took over leadership of the church from founder Ho Soo Kam last August, said: 'The case has already been decided. They do not worship with us anymore.'

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