I would like to share a piece of news with the world (or whoever still bothers to grace my nonsensical blog with your presence). Its about a small incident that happened in Singapore a few years ago. Yes. Singapore. And we are not in China. Neither are we in Malaysia.
We are an independent sovereign state with our own economy, military and other stuff an independent country would have.
Yeah. I know. The dot representing us on the map is larger than our land area. But we all know who won in the David-Goliath showdown.
Anyways, 2 years ago, back in 2009, a mother and her son went to meet their Member of Parliament to seek for financial aid. (A Member of Parliament is someone who is representing us in Parliament) The mother is an odd-job worker and has a monthly income of less than $500 a month while the son is mentally handicapped.
The mother had lost her job recently because she injured her wrist while on duty (which I think is ridiculous. I mean c'mon - getting fired for injuring oneself on the job?). With her monthly income gone, she can't pay her bills and stuff. Even HDB threatened to repossess her flat if she don't pay up soon.
All the mother wanted was for her MP, a certain Cynthia Phua, to write a letter for her asking HDB to reconsider her current situation and not repossess the flat. She got the letter in the end, but not without being scrutinized by the MP first.
When they were about to leave, for some reason unbeknownst, the son threw a chair at a door before leaving the MP's office. He only threw a chair at a door. And he stopped after that. But the grassroots leaders present decided it was a crime severe enough to warrant his arrest and so, they called for the police and the boy was handcuffed and sent to a station hours later.
Granted, the son's action was sudden and its natural for one to assume he might start attacking people. But, he stopped after throwing the chair. On top of that, he is only a 17 year old teenager who was with his mother at that time. A teenager and an old lady. You mean to say the grassroots leader present couldn't restrain him if anything were to happen? Must they really involve the police?
The son could have felt humiliated by the way Cynthia Phua interrogated his mother and him earlier. Or maybe he was frustrated at how little the MP can do to alleviate the sufferings of his mother. Or maybe he was sick of coming back to the same place over and over again to ask for financial assistance. Or maybe it was the condescending looks he perceived others to be giving him.
There are many possible reasons for the son's sudden outburst but the people present at that time didn't bother to access the situation. They simply assumed the son was being violent and decided to call the police.
Seriously. If that's the intellectual level of all our grassroot leaders, then I think Dumb and Dumber and Dumberer can do a better job.
But never mind, maybe its in our instinct to call the police whenever we see trouble.
Since the son is mentally handicapped and cannot defend for himself, I am sure his mother knows what is going. She could explain things to the MP and in turn, the MP could told the Police that it was a misunderstanding and asked them to release the son unconditionally.
BUT NO!
A certain minister up there decided that the full weight of the law MUST be brought down upon the son to make sure that he will not commit the same mistake again.
Hello. Are you kidding me?
You are going to punish someone who is already so destitute for something which could just be a simple misunderstanding. What do you call this? Justice? Fuck no. Bullying sounds more appropriate. And for some reason, 'stemming all opposition' and 'don't mess with me' comes to my mind as well.
In a bid to justify her decisions, the minister said that the chair which the boy threw could have killed somebody. If the boy was really out to kill someone, I don't think he will be throwing the chair at a door. He would be throwing it at SOMEONE! Goodness. That is not rocket science logic you know.
What is going on in this country? People can feel threatened by a chair (that is not even flying in their direction) and have to take action against the perpetrator.
Then what about the escape of some terrorist detained by us recently? Wouldn't that have killed more than a chair could if he managed to re-plot his master plan? So why are the parties responsible not dealt with accordingly?
Or that religious man going around smearing and mocking other religions recently? Wouldn't racial riots cause more deaths than a chair could? So how come his letter of apology is accepted, but not the son's?
I feel frustrated for the mother and the son. They were only just seeking help but trouble came their way. However, that trouble was intentionally brought upon them. No matter how I analyze the story, I still believe that the whole thing could have been settled peacefully, with no need for the police or the judge.
It shows alot about our politicians and who they really are. Bringing the full weight of the law down upon a criminal?
Don't make me laugh.
By the way, you can read about the full incident here
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