By David Ee, The Straits Times, 11 Jan 2014
A 22-YEAR-OLD man is under investigation for making racially insensitive remarks on Facebook while posing as a woman with the fictitious name of Heather Chua.
The comments targeting Malays last week caused an outcry among netizens, and led to several police reports being lodged.
Yet to be named, he is assisting police with investigations.
The "Heather Chua" moniker gained notoriety online from early last year after numerous posts denigrating, among other groups, the poor and the lower-income.
"She" also hit out at Institute of Technical Education graduates, public housing residents and national servicemen.
"Heather Chua" claimed to be a 40-year-old Singaporean who studied engineering at the National University of Singapore and attended Raffles Girls' School and Temasek Junior College.
"She" also claimed to live at Sentosa Cove. Photographs of luxury cars "she" purportedly owned were posted on the Facebook account.
But netizens pointed out how the pictures of the cars appeared to have been altered digitally.
Thai actress and blogger Pimpatchara Vajrasevee had also accused "Heather Chua" of passing off photographs of the actress as "her" profile picture.
In a Facebook post last night, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he had received complaints about "Heather Chua", and was glad the Singapore Police Force had established the identity of the man believed to be behind the fictitious profile.
He added that the Internet should be harnessed responsibly.
"Let's remember to be mindful of our words and to respect one another.