Gan Huai Shi, who had pleaded guilty to sedition last month, was also ordered to do 180 hours of community service, lawyer Edmond Pereira said.

"The court felt that probation was appropriate for him. The probation officer also recommended that he be put on probation," Pereira told AFP.

Gan, who admitted posting inflammatory remarks about Malay Muslims, became the third person in October to be convicted under the Sedition Act, which dates back to British colonial rule.

In a landmark ruling on October 7, two other ethnic Chinese men became the first persons in multi-racial Singapore to be punished for similar remarks against Muslims posted on their Internet blogs.

Benjamin Koh, 28, was given two concurrent one-month jail terms while Nicholas Lim, 25, was jailed for one day and fined S$5000 (US$2960) after they pleaded guilty to making strong anti-Muslim remarks.

Ethnic Chinese make up 76 percent of Singapore's resident population of 3.4 million, with Malay Muslims accounting for 13.7 percent followed by ethnic Indians, Eurasians and other racial groups.

The government has taken steps to promote racial and religious harmony after Singapore experienced bloody racial riots in the 1960s.

Koh and Lim's case was triggered by a letter to the Straits Times newspaper from a Malay Muslim Singaporean woman, Zuraimah Mohammed, who in a query to taxi firms expressed concern that uncaged dogs may drool on taxi seats or dirty them with their paws.

Under the Shafi school of thought to which most members of the local Muslim community belong, contact with dog saliva is prohibited.

The two men, who attacked Islam and its believers in reaction to the letter, issued public apologies after pleading guilty.

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