Ex-Cheers staff, who accused cop of 'lying through his teeth' in TikTok, gets 10 days' jail & S$4,000 fine

A former Cheers staff member, Jonathan Ong Jun Jie, was sentenced to 10 days' jail and a S$4,000 fine on Feb. 13.

The 30-year-old had first insulted a security officer, saying that he was from "India and Bangladesh".

This was after the security officer asked if Ong was a foreigner.

He subsequently ended up in a dispute with several police officers when they came to the store later to investigate, and posted several videos of them on TikTok.

In his videos, he accused one officer, Staff Sergeant Mohammad Firdaus Hassan, of "lying through his teeth" and displaying "thug-like behaviour".

Ong was convicted of three offences under the Protection from Harassment Act and dismissed from his job.

Under his feet

The incident took place on Jan. 1, 2023, at about 8pm.

A security officer, Namasivayam Jayapal, entered the shop to purchase beer, and asked if Ong was a foreigner "for the purposes of small talk".

Ong replied that Jayapal was from Bangladesh or Chennai and that he was "under his feet", causing the latter to retort: "F*ck you".

Jayapal then called the police and accused Ong of racist behaviour.

But when the police officers arrived at the Cheers store to interview Ong, he began to record them with his phone.

He also refused to provide his particulars when Firdaus asked for them.

Ong testified that Firdaus had repeatedly warned him against filming the officers, but said he "did not care".

He instead claimed he would "viral this on TikTok".

After the encounter, Ong posted a total of six videos on TikTok about his encounter with the police officers, accusing them of "thug-like behaviour", and Firdaus of "lying through his teeth".

As of Feb. 14, all six videos remain online.

Harassed and affected

Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Da Zhuan noted that Ong had also publicised Firdaus's identity information online.

Combined with the allegations, this caused the officer to feel "harassed and insulted".

Furthermore, rather than accept that he had offended the police officers, he "never showed an ounce of remorse".

He also did not apologise to Firdaus despite having had multiple opportunities to do so.

Rather, Ong defended his description of Firdaus as displaying "thug-like behaviour", Lee said.

He said that at the time, he felt that the officer would have "manhandled" him if he did not hand over his NRIC.

He later agreed that Firdaus did not in fact manhandle him.

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Top image from Ong's TikTok