A 53-year-old Singaporean man was fined S$6,000 for sending threatening Facebook messages to politicians in Taiwan.

Between Feb. 28, 2024, and Mar. 1, 2024, Loo Peng Seng, also known as "Spencer", sent threatening messages with the intent to cause alarm to two politicians via Facebook messenger to the politicians' Facebook accounts.

Loo was charged with three counts of an offence under the Protection from Harassment Act 2014.

He pleaded guilty and was fined.

Messaged politicians back in 2018

Between July and November 2018, Loo sent direct messages through Facebook Messenger to the Facebook accounts of Han Kuo Yu, the then-Mayor of Kaohsiung, and politician Lo Chih Chiang.

In February 2024, Han and Lo became the president and a member of the Legislative Yuan of Taiwan, respectively.

According to court documents, Loo urged the politicians to stop building more coal power plants and adopt his design for a hydroelectric power plant instead.

He believed that the use of coal power plants was causing cancer among the Taiwanese population and that the use of a hydroelectric power plant provided a solution for clean and renewable energy.

However, Loo did not receive any replies from Lo and Han.

Frustrated at the lack of reply, Loo decided to craft and send threatening messages to the politicians to "test" if they had seen his messages on his proposal.

He theorised that if the authorities approached him after he sent the messages, it would confirm that the politicians had read them but deliberately ignored him.

Between Feb. 28, 2024, and Mar. 1, 2024, Loo sent messages to Han and Lo via Facebook Messenger.

The messages to Han read:

"I am going to bring a lot of bombs to put in your car or home."

"I am going to make sure I will also blow you and up your family members with car bombs."

The messages to Lo read:

"I will go to use the bombs to blow you up to pieces."

"I am going to bomb your home. And I have a lot of bombs to bomb the Legislative Yuan building."

Following the messages, Han and Lo reported the matter to local authorities.

The Legislative Yuan also strengthened its patrols and security measures in response to the messages.

Court documents stated that Loo did not intend to execute his threats and was not capable of carrying them out.

Remanded at the IMH

When Loo was charged on Mar. 26, he was remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for psychiatric assessment.

An IMH report states that Loo suffers from a delusional disorder, which contributed to his offending.

He was also certified fit to plea in a court of law.

The prosecution had sought fines between S$1,500 and S$2,5000 per charge, totalling S$4,500 to S$6,000, taking into account Loo's circumstances, psychiatric condition, lack of antecedents, and plea of guilt.

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Top photos via Spencer Lui/Facebook and 羅智強/Facebook