A Singapore court sentenced seven members of the Falun Gong group to four weeks in jail Thursday for obstructing police and gave the maximum fine to eight others.
Subordinate Court magistrate Carol Ling said the defendants “manifested an utter disregard” for police who waited three hours before moving in to break up a New Year’s Eve vigil.
The 15 adherents pleaded guilty to obstructing police at an earlier hearing.
In another development, Buddhists in Malaysia are opposing an application by the Falun Gong group to register in the country on the grounds that it could mislead Buddhists, a Buddhist spokesman said Thursday.
Last year a branch of the group applied to register in Malaysia. The government has yet to respond. But the country’s largest Buddhist group said Falun Gong could mislead believers because it used Buddhist terminology.
A spokesman of the Malaysian Buddhist Association said the term “falun” meant “dharma”, or ultimate truth, which was a cornerstone of the Buddha’s teachings. “They take the chance to mislead Buddhists,” Lim said.
(Xinhua 03/30/2001)
