yellow ribbon fantasy - a PAP mind and money game

No, I wasn't beaten up in police lock-up. In fact I was eating french-fries whilst under interrogation. Senior investigating officer Ko Poh Koon bought me two hamburger set meals to coax me into pleading guilty.

But I was attacked in the dungeon under the Subordinate Court by one of Wong Kan Seng's goons. So what if I was wearing a pair of panties. Underwear is underwear. It's just a piece of cloth. That's no reason for an officer to grope.

Worse was yet to come from the goon. Later, on the pretext of strip-searching, he brought an over-sized truncheon into the cell I was in. Without provocation, he pushed me against the wall and shoved the truncheon at my ass-hole before retreating.

I lodged an immediate protest. It attracted a woman sergeant who then referred it to the officer in charge of the dungeon. When I was led up to the Court above, every goon in sight started removing his name tag. So never be under the illusion that, whilst the PAP regime is in power, it is innocent until proven guilty. Rather the opposite is true. So what if I broke a couple of car windscreens. They belonged to my cousins. Not some big fuck in the government.

Of course when I was finally freed by Wong Kan Seng's goons some 6 months later, I immediately lodged a complaint which went all the way to an identification line-up where I fingered the culprit. But the magistrate told me it was up to me to prosecute him, and that the attorney general's office may even back-up the goon in defense.

I have noticed ever since, that whenever I got involved with the goons, I received the kind of special glance reserved for well-known adversaries of the Lee Kuan Yew's regime, inclusive of whilst going through the border checkpoint. And I'm not involved in politics.



ST Forum 28 August 2006
By Lee Li Yng (Ms)

After I read about the delivery man who will be denied entry to the Conrad Centennial Hotel when the International Monetary Fund meeting starts next month ("Singapore delivery man told he can't enter IMF meeting area"; The New Paper, Aug 16), I have a similar experience to share.

My brother, who is in his late teens, works for a transport company on weekends. One Sunday, he was on assignment at the Istana with a couple of colleagues. Upon arrival, three of them were denied entry.

One 17-year-old had received a warning as a result of an ice-cream theft at the tender age of 12.

An 18-year-old spent time in a boys' home for getting into fights during his younger days. And my brother has a date with the courts over a fight.

This brings to mind the Yellow Ribbon campaign, an initiative by the Community Action for the Rehabilitation of Ex-Offenders group.

To quote from http://www.yellowribbon.org.sg: "Care Network needs to join hands with the community and other government organizations to create a stable social platform on which reformed offenders and their families can start life afresh.

"The 'key' needed to release them from this second social prison lies with family, friends, employers and the community. Let's give them the key."

The greater irony is that my dear brother, who surely is innocent of his crime until proven guilty, has not even been sentenced yet.

I can imagine what older ex-convicts face in society, given this sorry state of affairs.

Of course, there are sprinklings of success stories. But the painful truth is that plenty still struggle to find gainful employment, and the more desperate ones turn back to crime. Is it any wonder at all?

It pains me to see one of my kin treated like this.

I write in the hope of raising the community's awareness of such irony - not to demand justice just for my brother but for all who may have committed some offence in a moment of folly and have genuinely repented.

How else can we "help unlock the second prison" for ex-convicts?