merger with the Federation together with Sabah and Sarawak to form Malaysia. Singapore retained the legislation after its separation from Malaysia with effect from 9 August 1965. The current version of the legislation in Singapore is the Sedition Act (Chapter 290, 1985 Revised Edition). Repeal in 2022 On 13 September 2021, the government introduced a bill in parliament to repeal the Sedition Act. The Ministry of Home Affairs cited its "limited application" as a reason for its repeal, and added that new laws like the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act, the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act 2019, the Administration of Justice (Protection) Act 2016, the Undesirable Publications Act, the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act, and specific provisions under the Penal Code were sufficient to address issues "in a more targeted and calibrated manner". On 5 October 2021, Parliament passed the Sedition (Repeal) Bill. It was assented to by President Halimah Yacob on 29 October 2021 and came into effect on 2 November 2022. Seditious tendency Meaning The Sedition Act criminalizes seditious acts and speech; and the printing, publication, sale, distribution, reproduction and importation of seditious publications. The maximum penalty for a first offender is a fine of up to S$5,000 or imprisonment not exceeding three years or both, and for a subsequent offender imprisonment not exceeding five years. The court is required to forfeit any seditious publication found in an offender's possession or used in evidence at the trial, and may order that it be destroyed or otherwise disposed of. No person may be convicted on the uncorroborated testimony of a single witness. As the Act defines something as seditious if it has a "seditious tendency", a crucial element underpinning the offences mentioned above is the requirement to prove a seditious tendency which is defined in sections 3(1) and (2): Although this statutory definition broadly corresponds to its common law counterpart, there are two key differences. First, unlike the common law offence which requires evidence of a seditious intent, an offender's intention is irrelevant under the Sedition Act, and it suffices that the act possesses the requisite seditious tendency. Thus, it is immaterial that the offender failed to foresee or misjudged the risk that his or her act would be seditious. Secondly, section 3(1)(e) differs from the classic common law idea of sedition because there is no requirement that the seditious tendency has to be directed against the