The duo, who represented themselves in court, claimed that they and about nine other SDP members did not flout the rules by promoting their party newspaper in front of Causeway Point on April 8 last year.

Comparing themselves to hawkers who peddle their wares in public without permits but are not prosecuted, they questioned if the action against them was "politically motivated".

Cross-examining the first witness, Mr Loh Zhen Hong, a former police officer who had reported the incident, Yap tried to show there was "unfairness in enforcing the law between the ruling party and the opposition".

He used examples of banks holding roadshows to promote their credit cards and people who sell their products with loudhailers to argue that the party’s activities on that day were "nothing out of the ordinary".

Yap also grilled Mr Loh, who was off-duty when he spotted the SDP’s activities, on whether he would have gone to the police if he had seen members of the People’s Action Party or Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew making speeches.

Mr Loh said that he would have done the same thing in those instances.

District Judge Jasvender Kaur cut off Yap several times to remind him that his cross-examination should focus on proving that Mr Loh "had ill motivations to report to the police".

After the court was shown the video clip of the SDP’s activities that day, Yap contended that the police, by filming the proceedings, had already assumed the party had committed an offence.

The court also allowed the footage to be released to the duo to help them prepare their defence.

The hearing continues Wednesday and is scheduled to last till next Monday. If convicted, the pair face a maximum fine of S$10,000 each. — TODAY/ym

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