10/12/2014

Hong Lim Affair – Who entraps who?




There is this theory going around that Roy Ngerng and Han Hui Hui walked into a trap set up for them. I have another theory, that unwittingly Roy and Hui Hui had allowed a counter trap to fall in place and many fell in without know that the hunter is now the hunted.

The first theory was quite obvious to those who saw it that way. There was this huge party for Special Needs Children and senior citizens. These were vulnerable people and everyone should take special care not to encroach into their area of activities to upset or disturb them. And there were all the good reasons to let this party to be held side by side with Roy and Hui Hui’s protest. And it was very tempting, whether in the heat of the moment, intentionally or unintentionally, or being provoked, to wander into the forbidden zone and to be seen to be disturbing the peace, violating the space of the vulnerable. And finally, to irritate and agitate them, the authority appeared at the last moment asking them to move to another corner of the Park when this could be done well in advance.

Roy and Hui Hui apparently fell into this entrapment, marched into the forbidden zone to be seen as ‘heckling’ the Special Needs Children. Now they must face the music.

The other entrapment theory is that both Roy and Hui Hui would go as planned and let the authority mess up themselves in the eyes of the public by appearing as overbearing and intimidating two young persons. The authority would have to handle themselves very well and proper, with decency but without looking like thugs and gangsters bullying two youngsters. It would be a matter of how the law were used and interpreted and how the process of the law was being applied.

Now let’s recap this unfortunate incident to see if the authority has fallen into an entrapment by chance. The verdict would be in the eyes of the beholder. There would be those who would want to look for all the reasons to entrap Roy and Hui Hui. There would also be those who want to see how fair is the authority towards the citizens and whether there is an abuse of power, and to judge how the authority is behaving.

The granting of the two events with incompatible agenda and dynamics has already raised many eyebrows with many yelling entrapment. It was an event that could easily be avoided but allowed to happen for whatever reasons.

With Hui Hui and her party fully prepared with their video cameras to protect themselves, there came marching, a group of men that required serious make ups to look nice and friendly people, all caught in camera, towards a scrawny little girl that was less than 5 ft tall. It was like a scene from a gangland movie. And while some ruled that the little girl was in defiance, some would not look too kindly on the group of men muscling over the little girl.

The flurry of news splashed on the main media, followed with all the condemnations of ‘heckling’ of Special Needs Children, even from ministers and MPs appeared the next day. It made a very strong first impact on the readers. As days passed and more evidence was produced in the social media, this overload of news in a media that has low credibility rankings by international agencies started to turn rancid. No one believes that there was any heckling in the first place and the accusation was overdone and hardly could hold any water. It backfired and supported the conspiracy theory.

Everyone thinks that it would be blown over when sanity returns. But no. The social media is now filled with coverage of the knocking of doors in the quiet of the night by the police to serve notice to some participants at the protest rally, this time for suspicion of being members of an unlawful assembly. Many eyeballs are rolling. This is going to rattle nerves, and if the authority knows, would not go down well with the public. In the past it was easy as there was no social media. Today, everything comes under the glare of a spotlight.

I shouldn’t use any strong or emotional words on how this is being received by the public, especially the netizens. Comments in the social media have been one way, furious, totally negative, uncalled for, puzzling and exasperating. The authority got to be very careful in what it is doing and how it carries out its law enforcing duty. The people are watching and questioning, very cynical and unforgiving, if not very angry over the latest development.

Maybe the feedbacks in Reach are cheering and clapping at how successful was the first entrapment and failing to see the second entrapment.

Looking at the whole picture, has the authority fallen into an entrapment that puts a spotlight on them in a very negative way? If this is what the public/netizens are perceiving, this unwitting entrapment is going to be more serious and more costly to the govt. The govt must not be seen to be harassing the people or turning against the people. The govt is for the people, to protect the people, the guardian of the people. The authority is everything about the rule of law, fairness and justice to the people. The govt has to be extremely careful not to be seen to be bullying the people, or it will fall right into the entrapment.

Now we have this double entrapment theory, or entrapment within an entrapment. How would they turn out and who would end up the loser? Who is the heckler? Who is entrapping who?

Kopi Level - Yellow

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

"How would they turn out and who would end up the loser?"
RB

Losers will be the daft Sinkies and the Sinkie opposition lah, who else.

Daft Sinkies will suffer due to money and make money no enough, and Sinkie opposition will suffer due to votes no enough.

So does it matter entrapment or not, double or not, or what not, u tell me lah?

Anonymous said...

WP had better be careful, if they continue to behave the way they are.

If Sinkies who had voted for them reach a point of regarding them as a "What's the Point" (WP) Party, then that's the end for WP and their MP allowances.

Anonymous said...

Maybe he is waiting to be invited for tea.

Anonymous said...


frankly who is less wrong is not
important......

what is important is you MUST
have money.....

if you want to survive in this
world number one expensive tiny
crowded island you CANNOT afford
to be poor or just so-so.....

no choice, life in this "chee-kee-
kool-chee-kee" (in Cantonese)
society is like that lah....

this is the Singapore for you.....

cheers.....

Anonymous said...

I feel sorry for the NPark Director and the Police officers assigned to this case.

Anonymous said...

It's nip the bud before it bloom or kill chicken to frighten the monkeys but it backfired due to social media.

Anonymous said...

A sensible piece by Rb aka Mr Chua Chin Leng, containing sensible deduction and allusion.
Like to say that all sensible folks will likely share the Same Opinion.
That been said, me looks forward for the View of Matilah Singapura, another Wiseman most capable of reasoning.

patriot

oldhorse42 said...

I do not feel sorry for the NP director entrusted the difficult task. His assignment obviously came not from his direct superior, the commissioner but from some political circle out to intimidate the activists in this amateurish manner.
The director, rumoured to be a LTC from Mindef, was helicopted in to handle this difficult situation. So fast was him flown in that he did not have an Authority card signed by he NP Commissioner.
Soon he will be commended for his courage and cleverness in handling the case and will be made a NP Commissioner.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Hi oldhorse, I can understand your sentiment. It is unfair to put civil servants and men in blue in such a difficult position. Not many people can afford to walk away when they have a mortgage to pay and a family to feed.

I don't think they volunteered for this unpleasant task.

Anonymous said...

Seriouslee... to get the koret answer is like the mud up north trying to find the missing mh aircraft... onlee the amercunt know.. here it's papigs

But u can try looking for fox mudler since the truth is out there

But seriouslee, u can votes papigs to get to the bottom of it.. onlee after the leempire is ousted will the real version of history prevailed.... not current historlee

agongkia said...

Nothing to do with entrapment.
Its simply a case of someone knowing he had made a mistake and try to do damage control but again made another blunder instead.

Its easy to skin a cat alive.Need not go through so much hassle just to get thing done.
We should have faith on our leader. Khakia incompetent does not mean leader play dirty.