Is there a need to treat children like adult criminals?

Below is a letter from a parent of a 13 year old boy who had to go through a similar ordeal like Benjamin a couple of years ago.  The article is posted in TRE. This is how the children are being treated by adults who are educators and law enforcing officers. As long as ‘god’ keeps quiet, it is a sign of approval that this is the right way to treat naughty children, like criminals. Children are very safe in this caring and compassionate in this nanny state run by goody priests and matrons. But it is also a sign of a kind of sickness in the head, people that think children should be treated this way. Don’t be deceived by people appearing normal when they are actually crazy inside the head.

Psychiatrist would have a lot of things to say about such people, sadist, masochist, deprived or abused childhood, maybe privileged childhood and lost the sense of compassion for children, megalomaniac or whatever, some may have personal grudges or agenda.

 

13-year-old boy locked up in detention cell with other offenders for alleged molest

After reading the letter from Benjamin Lim’s family on citizen online. I totally understand how they felt and would like to share my story to let Benjamin Lim’s parents know that I admire their strength and courage to speak up.
I’m really sorry that they had to lose a son, in order to have authorities listen to what they had to say.
On 26 February 2014, I had a similar incident happen to me.
At 2.23pm, I received a call on my mobile from my son’s school discipline master informing me that they will be calling the police. They informed me that it was due to an alleged outrage of modesty of a female teacher. I asked the discipline master if it could wait till I got to the school before they did that, and his reply was that they had no control of what the teacher wanted to do which was to call the police.
Later on, when I had a chance to speak to the principal and the discipline master, I asked for an explanation of this, I was told that as the principal of the school it was his job to protect his staff – the teacher. If the job of the school principal, is to protect his adult staff, who protects the 13-year-old child?
At 2.50pm I arrived at the school’s general office and requested to see my son, the Discipline Master came to bring me to a room where my son was. He was being questioned by a police officer and with another police officer taking the statement and three other police officers outside. Unlike Benjamin’s incident, these police officers were all in uniforms and the police cars were marked.
Upon entering the room, I saw my son with his head resting on his arm on the table crying. The amount of tissues next to him showed that he must have been crying quite a bit.
I was told that they were done taking my son’s statement and got him to sign for it in my absence.
If you were a 13-year-old and there were 5-6 police officers present, would you not be afraid and would have admitted to whatever the officers had suggested to you? (especially, when you had no one there to support you?) As an adult, I would be frightened and extremely intimidated let alone a 13-year-old. Why would one require this amount of police officers to pick up a 13-year-old boy from his school in two police cars?
To shorten the story, my son was brought to the police station in the police car handcuffed. ( I had to beg the Investigating officer not to handcuffed him in the school,  only when they got into the police car.) After many requests, I was finally allowed to post bail for my son at about 10 pm!! All this while, he was sitting with other offenders in the same cell even though he was only 13 years of age.
These are the facts* that led to the above incident which I managed to find out from my son when we finally made it home.
1.        My son was in the school canteen just after school hours at 1.50pm, rushing to buy lunch; he has a history of gastric and thus try to eat as soon as he has the opportunity before he starts to get gastric pains. As there was no queue, in front of the drinks stall, many students were jostling to get to the front to buy their drinks. There was some manoeuvering, slight pushing and shoving, as in any typical canteen scene after school at lunch time, particularly in an all-boys school.
2.        As he was jostling his way forward, the said teacher, was walking past (on his right side and just within an arm’s length). At the point, his hand having swung outwards due to the jostling brushed her buttocks accidentally with the back of his hand, because he was holding his wallet in the hand.  She turned around and asked him “Do you  know what you have done?”
3.        My son immediately apologised to the teacher explaining that it was accidental. However, the teacher said, “Even if you are sorry, it is an arrest-able offence, and sorry cannot make up for it.” She then informed him that she was going to report this to his Form Teacher, who subsequently arrived and escorted him to the Discipline Master’s office. Before long, the police arrived, questioned him and arrested my son.
4.        When asked why he had confessed to the statement he made, he said it was the manner it was suggested to him, and he didn’t have a choice.
5.        Subsequently, My son was given a warning letter for the offence he confessed to. This is after a few months of having to go to the police station to post bail.
Children have to be protected because they have no formal rights
1.        Schools need to captain young lives and not put them in jeopardy
2.        Schools should not protect staff above pupils, but to treat both fairly.
3.        The child will clearly be traumatized socially, and there is bound to be a lot of rebound in terms of re-socializing him. (We had to have a 14-year-old boy’s death to prove this point)
4.        There was no proper disciplinary evaluation of both teacher and student before the case was taken to the police?
5.        The school did nothing to champion the situation and I think this is something that our education system is unaware of and has no idea how to handle given the climate today where we live in a world of cyber bullying etc.
6.        I had written into Ministry of Education (MOE) to seek answers, only to have MOE ask me to give the principal of my son’s school a call. (My son had by that time moved to another school.) It is extremely frustrating to try to explain to a 13-year-old boy, that even though he had done something accidentally, by mistake he was not given a chance to be proven innocent, no benefit of a doubt. He lost all his childhood friends in the process of his moving school.
I’m very thankful that with support and conversations with my son he has not taken it as hard as Benjamin Lim. Whether this incident has any long-term repercussions on his relationships in the future is yet to be seen.
Yours truthfully,
A concerned parent

Whether or not he deliberately touched her does not warrant the teacher calling the police. If a teacher is not capable of managing a situation in school with a student by herself then she has failed as a teacher. To decide to get police involved instead of leaving matters to the disciplinary teacher is to disregard the welfare of her student, disregard the fact that students are minors in her care in need of guidance. Such a person is not suitable to be a teacher. Boys at the school will not trust nor look up to her and this accused boy will probably be so traumatized that when he grows up he may have difficulty making friends with women.
The Singapore Police is expert at extracting confessions. They should be more professional and do more leg work to gather evidence. Did the police question the teacher how did she know it was a deliberate touching amounting to molest. Did the police gather evidence from the other students at the canteen whether the touching was deliberate or accidental or they merely rely on the confession extracted from the boy?
The Law on molesting in Singapore is too strict. Almost everyday you read in the newspaper someone is found guilty of molesting. It appears that Singapore is a nation of molesters. If someone happens to brush against a woman he can be charged for molesting if the woman complains. The man is defenseless.

Why would China want to play ball with the Empire?

John Kerry visited Beijing last week with an edict from the Emperor that China must deal with the North Koreans or else. Behind the smile of the special envoy was a big stick. China must comply with the wishes of the Emperor or faced consequences. China on the other hand put up a brave front and pretended that relations with the Americans were good. Chinese media claimed that China US relations are improving.  Foreign Minister Wang Yi showed a big smile while he shook the hand of John Kerry. Kerry was also granted a meeting with Xi Jinping and the media were invited. The photo session gave an impression that it was a friendly visit, but nothing of that sort.

China has been trying to appease the pressure from the Empire to act as dictated by the Emperor. But China quietly refused to comply. China is not going to make an enemy out of North Korea. The envoy left Beijing still smiling. Over the weekend the Empire acted. It sailed two warships to within the 12 nm territorial limits of a Chinese island in the South China Sea.  This was the gravest provocation to date, an act of aggression that the Americans coded as an exercise on ‘freedom of navigation’. The Americans sailed across the Pacific Ocean to violate the territorial sovereignty of China and expect the Chinese to take it quietly with heads bent.

The Empire has been setting many conditions to tie the hands of China in trade and other peaceful enterprises and forcing China to take hostile actions against its allies. China is not allowed to sell fighter aircraft to Iran and weapons to many of its allies while the Americans are even selling to Taiwan, a renegade island that broke away after a civil war. The empire also signed a defence treaty to intervene in the civil war, to come to the defence of Taiwan.

Why would China want to play ball and be on the losing side of the Empire? Why would China allow the Empire to dictate terms and curb its peaceful activities with countries of the world? Why would China be forced to take responsibility when North Korea acted independently?  North Korea is an independent country unlike South Korea, a semi colony of the USA. China has no right to interfere with the actions of an independent country.

The latest provocation in the South China must be the last straw that broke the camel’s back. It is about time China stands up to the bullying of the Empire. China does not need to cooperate with the hostile and aggressive Empire. China should conduct its diplomacy in its own interest and in the way it likes. China should no longer cooperate with the Empire in the interest of the Empire.

It is about time China exerts itself as an independent country and a super power that would look straight in the eyes of the Empire. No more cooperation. The Empire can do as it pleases. China would do as it pleases. China must build up its military forces in the South China to avoid being attacked by the Empire.

The message of the Empire is simple and clear. China must come under the influence of the Empire to obey the dictates of the Empire. Refusal to do so would lead to war.  And it would be China’s fault for provoking a war with the ‘good’ Empire.  China must be prepared for war with the Empire. The Empire is banging at China’s door. China cannot hide behind the door and pretend everything is fine.  China must step out of the house to face the Empire squarely. Not doing so would encourage the Empire to misbehave and act wildly and war becomes a certainty.

Singapore is our country

Together we have sent a message that will echo from Wall Street to Washington, From Maine to California. And that is that the government of our great country belongs to all of the people, and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors and their super PACs’.  Bernie Sanders, Democrat Presidential candidate

Does the above quote sounds eerily familiar? This was something that the people of Singapore should be shouting in the last GE but somehow it faded away. It changed tune with 69% of the voters shouting from Raffles Place to the Istana and from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands that Singapore belongs to them.

When would all the people of Singapore be shouting that our great island city state belongs to all the people of Singapore and not just a handful of wealthy politicians or to foreigners? Would this message be heard in the next GE? Or would this message be heard in the next GE that the position of the President of Singapore belongs to all the people of Singapore and not a few special people with purple blood?

The victory of an ordinary man, without the richest and glory, not a natural aristocrat, came as a surprise, that common people can become the president of the USA, (but not in Singapore).  Bernie Sanders won convincingly in New Hampshire. The Democrats were banking on Hillary Clinton’s political experience to carry the votes. But the voters voted a man that had lesser experience, no experience in running a town council to prove that he can fun a country as big as the USA to be their presidential candidate.

Republican candidate Trump also had a big win. According to NYT, both men ‘won significant support from voters who felt betrayed by their parties and were dissatisfied or angry with the federal government’. This would not happen in Singapore when the voters were satisfied and happy with the ruling govt. Sanders or Trump would not stand a chance with their lack of experience in political office if they were to run for the office of the Elected President. They may not even be qualified in the first place, to be eligible as a candidate.

What do you think?

The Singapore formula of the highest science

Now what is that? I also don’t understand what is the title all about. What is the highest science? Got such a thing meh? I briefly remembered Einstein calling political science the master science, because he could not find a theory or formula that is exact and unchanging, and predictable. All the variables are changing all the time. Now what is the highest science? I can’t give you a definition, but from what I am going to write below maybe you will get an idea of this out of the world kind of science.

Singapore has just appointed a very high level Constitutional Commission to recommend a formula to elect a president that will not be a rogue. It is like a system that will not fail in what it is set up to do, to produce an infallible man to be the Elected President of Singapore. Get the idea?

And to do this task, the PM has picked out a team comprising the most talented talents in the island, the top judges, top civil servant, top political scientist, top businessmen, top minority talent, top banker, top top of everything, the eminent men and woman of the island. Their combined talent and intelligent are likely to exceed any living genius on earth. You will need such a pool of intelligence to come out with a system that will not produce a rogue Elected President.

To understand the complex nature of this extraordinary task, you must understand a few things. One, it is a democratic election system where the people, the unthinking masses, are supposed to make the decision as a herd. Then there is the selection committee of equally fallible men and women, I can’t expect to say they are flawless unless they are godlike. And this team will, with their imperfect human nature, pick a man they think will not be a rogue.  And the person that is being picked is going to be truly godlike or may not be godlike but can pretend to be godlike during the selection process. And also presumably he will not fall to temptation and his life is so blessed, that his aspiration or appetite for more money or anything will be neutered. See, human nature is such that human beans are prone to temptation and their heads tend to grow bigger and bigger when they are put into position of power. So for such an infallible man to exist, to be the Elected President, is a daunting task, all temptations and desires must be castrated to prevent him from becoming a rogue.

Now our eminent team of men and woman is going to design a formula that would not fail, would not produce a rogue Elected President. Now you see, given the flawed nature of human beans, isn’t this the highest science?

Would it be more important to design a system that would not produce rogue MPs , Ministers and Prime Ministers? These elected representatives actually wield more power and carry more responsibilities than an Elected President. Should not this be the top priority? Never mind, let’s wait for this mission impossible, a system or formula to produce an infallible man in the Elected President that would not become a rogue. I will not add another condition, that it would not violate the rights of the citizens provided in the Constitution to be eligible to become an Elected President.

I wonder if there is a prize in this world good enough to award to this team if they could ever produce a scheme, system or formula to pick a flawless and infallible man. I know God failed in this task when he thought Noah was the perfect man and spared his life to be allowed to breed a flawless specie of human beans. But Noah proved just as fallible as any human bean, flawed.

What do you think? Can this team do it when God had failed? Can there be a perfect system that would not produce a rogue president?

PS. This is my piece for the weekend. I am taking a short break with my friends.

China hegemony, North Korea threat, rogue president

What have these phrases have in common? China hegemony? When was there a China hegemony? Anyone lived through it? What was it like or how was it like? We are living through 70 years of American hegemony. 

What about North Korean nuclear threat? They did not have the weapons yet. They cannot deliver the warheads yet. They have not threatened any country other than South Korea, Japan and the USA. These are the enemies of the North Koreans, threatening and provoking the North Koreans. The North Koreans are no threat to anyone else. Stop being silly to think the North Koreans will wake up one day in the future and fire their missiles all over the world, to Singapore, to Malaysia, to the Philippines, to Indonesia, to Myanmar, to India….. Stupidity knows no bounds. What is the fuzz all about? Why the ruckoos?

Then there is this great fear of a rogue president? Anyone seen one yet? What is a rogue president? What is the definition of a rogue president? Would anyone notice or recognize one when the rogue president is standing in front of him?

What is the common feature of these three devils? They are just someone’s hype, someone’s imaginations to create fear. These are the ghosts that are threatening everyone and must be exorcised. Let’s hide from them, let’s fight them. In reality they may not even exist. A China hegemony? What is that? Is it bad or can it be good, better than the American hegemony?

Why should it be bad? Because the Americans said so, because the western media have been saying so? The dumb just believed blindly. They don’t call them daft for nothing.