SINGAPORE - From the Penal Code to the Protection from Harassment Act, lawyers say Singapore has a range of laws to guard against racist comments. They apply whether the comments were made online or involved a non-verbal gesture made in public. The law can also be invoked even if there was no intention to hurt racial or religion feelings. Take the case of 35-year-old Zainal Abidin Shaiful Bahari. On Tuesday (June 8), the Singaporean was sentenced to three weeks' jail for comments he made on Twitter which he claimed was a parody account satirising racially insensitive Singaporeans. Posing as "SharonLiew86", Zainal had sent multiple racially offensive tweets in 2019 and last year. Ms Diana Ngiam, one of his lawyers, told The Straits Times that her client did not specially direct the tweets at any individual. But he was still liable for committing acts against racial harmony - an offence under the Penal Code. She noted that this offence merely requires that the offender knew that his actions would promote enmity between different religious or racial groups, or that they are prejudicial to the maintenance of racial or religious harmony and is likely to disturb the public tranquillity. ...