TR EMERITUS

Deccan Herald, 17 August 2010 A 23-year old Indian national, who molested five girls and women in May this year, has been sentenced to eight years of jail and ordered to be given 12 cane strokes by a local court.  Thangavelu Tamilselvam, an immigrant construction worker in Singapore, pleaded guilty on three charges of molestation and two others considered during his sentencing, 'The Straits Times' reported today. Tamilselvam had molested five women and girls, who wore shorts or skirts and aged between 10 and 30 years, over 19 days in May this year. He would wear a cap covering his top half of the face and prowled on a bicycle spotting his victims in the Woodlands housing estate, closer to his dormitory on northern part of Singapore. He would attack his victims in apartment lifts, hugging and kissing them, Deputy Public Prosecutor Kumaresan Gohulabalan told the court yesterday. Tamilselvam faced a maximum jail sentence of 10 years and caning for outraging modesty and causing wrongful restraint in a lift. The punishment for outraging the modesty is a jail term of up to two years or fine or caning or any combined sentence. Caning is a widely used form of legal corporal punishment in Singapore.   Source: Deccan Herald  Read More →

It is already appalling that the Singapore police is unable to differentiate a simple metaphor from a genuine threat. It now seems that officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs need to attend some basic English lessons as well. In a letter to the Straits Times Forum today, a MHA spokesperson reiterated that YOG critic Mr Abdul Malik was arrested for making public comments which could "incite violence and public" disorder and not for making anti-YOG remarks as suggested by a lop-sided article written by Jeremy Au Yong from Straits Times two days ago. "It is a serious offence to instigate violence or injury against another person. It does not matter if his target is a government minister, a journalist or someone from any other profession," Toh Yong Chuan, a MHA Director wrote. Mr Abdul Malik made the international headlines when he was arrested by the Singapore police for “inciting violence and public disorder” with a comment he posted on Facebook criticizing Dr Vivian Balakrishnan over his handling of the YOG. Below is a snapshot of the original comment posted by Mr Malik who got him into trouble with the police: He was arrested at his workplace by three plain-clothes police officers from Bedok Police Division whose Commander is DAC Teo Chun Ching and Head Investigator is DSP Goh Tat Boon. The controversial case made the international headlines, sparking a huge outcry among Singaporeans who were appalled at the inability of the police to differentiate between a metaphor and a genuine threat. Prominent Singapore blogger Mr Brown wrote sarcastically that anyone with “half a brain” will realize that Mr Malik was not inciting any violence: “Personally, I think his only crime was typing in all caps and the overuse of exclamation marks (I suggest a month’s community service for every unnecessary exclamation mark). You may even take him to task for misspelling the name of our Sports Minister (it’s “Vivian” and not “Vivien”, and he’s a bloke). But I think anyone with half a brain will realize that in the context of what Mr Ghazali wrote, he was not inciting any violence or asking folks to set a minister on fire.” (Read more here) Another netizen Kojakbt asked how a simple metaphor like “burn” can be misconstrued to mean “inciting violence and public disorder”: “Now, you can physically burn a person but how are you supposed to burn a political party? Moving to the next sentence, “Rally together and vote them out!!!”, he was clearly qualifying his previous “burn” remark by asking the citizens to vote PAP out. Hence, reading both sentences together, the meaning of the word “burn” becomes clearer. It’s referring to burning as in the idiom, “burning someone at the stake”. Figuratively, it means “to chastise or denounce someone severely or excessively”  (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/burn+at+the+stake). In short, it’s clear to most people who have passed their GCE ‘O’ level English that Mr Malik was speaking metaphorically when he used the word “burn”. I’m puzzled that the person who reported this to the police cannot understand simple English?” Mr Malik has since apologized to Dr Vivian via an email: “If my words had caused you concerns for your personal safety, I wish to apologize for the discomfort I have caused you. In no way was this a threat or perceived threat meant to endanger your life. I have made that quite clear to the police, but I wish to state it to you formally as well to ensure I have made an effort to clarify matters with you. If nothing else, it is for the sake of ensuring I have a clear conscience," he wrote. Dr Vivian has categorically denied lodging a police report against Mr Malik and claimed he "almost didn't care" about the incident. According to Mr Malik, the report was lodged by the investigating officer from Bedok Police Division himself which raise serious questions on whether there are any procedural lapses in doing so. It remains to be seen if the Attorney-General Chambers will prosecute Mr Malik whose lawyer will have a field day *"grilling" the police officers on their basic English comprehension skills. *The word is used here as a metaphor to mean "intense questioning" and should not be taken literally".   Related articles: >> Transcript of Abdul Malik’s interview with Straits Times >> Abdul Malik apologizes to Vivian Balakrishnan >> Bedok Police Division should explain arrest of YOG critic >> Dissenting is our right >> Former RI boy Abdul Malik turned into "celebrity" overnight >> Abdul Malik: My thoughts on the YOG games >> Dr Vivian: I don’t care about arrest of YOG critic >> Arrest of YOG critic to squash dissent failed miserably >> Character assassination by Straits Times against YOG critic >> Netizens voice support for arrested YOG critic Abdul Malik >> Outcry among Singaporeans at arrest of YOG critic >> Singapore police put YOG on world map >> Did Dr Vivian lodge police report against YOG critic? >> YOG critic arrested by Singapore police >> Participant of “I hate YOG” Facebook arrested by police Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us  Read More →

With the completion of the recent YOG, we have witnessed numerous reports on the ill-treatment of YOG volunteers. Amongst them, key highlights include the initial “dog food” incident [1] which has been somewhat improved to sub-standard fast food [2], or worsened to food poisoning [3] depending on your point of view. Not forgetting the inhumane working conditions of these volunteers [4], one cannot help but wonder if we are reading the plight of YOG volunteers or NS conscripts. This apparent “enslavement” of the volunteers to the YOG and relevant authorities like MOE and their associated schools is a regrettable sight, but it is a prime example of how such behavior is but a symptom of Singaporeans’ blind deference to any form of authority, which has resulted in the current powerless state of Singaporeans against the ruling party, PAP. While I read such reports with empathy for their plight, I cannot help but wonder why are these volunteers putting up with such ill-treatment? A quick dictionary search defines the term volunteer as “person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking.” The term “voluntarily” means “done, made, brought about, undertaken, etc., of one's own accord or by free choice”. If YOG volunteers are indeed volunteers in the conventional sense, why hasn’t all the YOG volunteers done a mass boycott and simply refuse to show up for “work” in protest for their ill-treatment? These volunteers are not even being paid for their work, so why bother showing up in the first place? Simply refusing to show up for “work” would be the most logical and rational response from any person living in a free government, but unfortunately our local youths been so conditioned to defer to any form of authority that they now appear to lack any free will of their own. I admit I am neither a staff nor student of any of the schools supporting the YOG games, and it is my hope that our youths are only playing their “part” as they are under duress from the high-handed coercion from the schools. Based on unverified reports from around the net, it seems that many students are being forced to attend, lest they suffer the “punishment” which has so far allegedly included - corrective work order, detentions, withholding of testimonials, and a $5 deposit fee. However, how many youths (and parents for that matter) have even questioned whether or not does the school have the right or the authority to implement such punishments? YOG is not a school event, so it does not fall under the jurisdiction of school rules. As a student or a parent I would question the school’s ability to issue corrective work order or detentions for “playing YOG truant”. Where is it stated in existing publication of school rules that skipping YOG is a punishable offense? Even if there is such a rule, does the school have the legal right to punish students in such manner? If push comes to shove, will it be upheld in a court of law? I am no lawyer, but common sense would dictate “NO”. There are limits on what the school can do to students, and that limit ends when events such as YOG are beyond their jurisdiction. If the various online reports are true, then it is only logical to conclude that the Ministry of Education along with its schools has crossed the line, regardless of how “compulsory” the event may be. As George Cham has pointed out in an earlier article [5], there are ways for volunteers to get out of YOG in a non-confrontational manner and I am left wondering how many youths actually heeded his advice. Singaporeans should learn to rebel when the so-called authorities are stepping out of line, as is in this case of MOE and their schools over stepping their authority to force compliance and support for YOG. Students are in school to receive an education, not to be pawns or digits for the PAP “wayang” to the world. The poll from CNA (which is ironically a government affiliated website) shows that close to 90% of Singaporeans could not care less about YOG. Let me be clear about this – YOG is a PAP event, it is not a Singaporean event. So, for those volunteers that stuck on to the end, perhaps you should be asking yourself “why am I wasting my time here”? It is somewhat common wisdom that the younger generation of Singaporeans has no love for the PAP. Unfortunately, the recent YOG incident has led me to conclude that Singaporeans may be still a bunch of “all-talk-but-no-action” dissenters. If the YOG fails because the youth volunteers had just decided to quit, our HDB flats upgrading will not be affected and Singapore’s economy will not collapse to dust. If youths of this country can’t even come together to initiate a mass boycott of YOG, what hope is there in ever voting PAP out of power?   Garrett Goh   [1] https://www.tremeritus.net/2010/08/11/yog-volunteers-complain-about-being-served-dog-food/ [2] https://www.tremeritus.net/2010/08/19/yog-volunteers-given-poor-quality-mcchicken-with-mcdonald-coupon/ [3] https://www.tremeritus.net/2010/08/18/nea-moh-to-probe-yog-mass-food-poisoning-outbreak-with-26-singapore-volunteer-down-with-diarrhoea/ [4] https://www.tremeritus.net/2010/08/17/singapore-volunteers-forced-to-work-long-hours-without-rest-for-yog/ [5] https://www.tremeritus.net/2010/08/15/moe-teacher-how-students-can-stay-out-of-yog/  Read More →