Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Complaining About The Wrong Thing


In Singapore, a lot is currently being made about the news of three foreigners who came illegally into Singapore to abduct a child. A 30-year-old woman, who got custody of her son in England, allowed her divorced husband to bring their son to Singapore to visit his family but after arriving, the husband refused to return the child back to the mother.

In desperation, the woman, whose name cannot be revealed to protect the identity of the boy, entered Singapore illegally with 2 others to take back her child. They failed and the 3 are now jailed between 10 to 16 weeks. Some Singaporeans are saying the sentences are too light and some even complain that our local press is too subdued in their reporting of the case.

I can totally understand why the press is so subdued because this case is a major embarrassment to Singapore. Not because the woman managed to sneak into Singapore, that’s not so unusual, but because the Singapore courts is protecting the ex-husband, the man who abducted the child from his mother in the first place!

These are the facts. The mother had custody. She kindly allowed her ex-husband to bring their son out to Singapore trusting him to return the boy after 2 months. The ex-husband broke her trust, broke the law in England, ignored the English Court's custody ruling, and that forced the mother to take the actions she did. Now the mother is in jail for trying to get back her stolen son?

I’m no lawyer, but this is an injustice if there’s ever is one. The mother had custody, she did a good deed agreeing to let her ex-husband’s parents take care of the boy for two months, and now she is in jail because her lying, cheating ex-husband broke his word to her.

So yeah, the Singapore press is subdued in their coverage of the case. I can totally understand that because if they are not, they will have to roast this unjust ruling that protect the abductor and punished the mother whose child was stolen from her.

Now that is something Singaporeans should complain about!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

They should be immediately pardoned.

Anonymous said...

The real complaint is not what you say. It is the mindset of the immigration authorities. They proudly proclaim that they had apprehended several persons who attempted to enter the country illegally. But who are these people? They came in small sampans or boats. The wealthy came in yachts and land at Marina Bay and came and went as they chose.They are presumed to be harmless and law abiding. So, with this exposure, they promise to tighten the security measures there.

Ghost said...

So 3 people, including the mother, sneaked in illegally to take back the son that was stolen from them is to you more important than the fact that our legal system is protecting the kidnappers?
If that's the case, we will have to agree to disagree on this.

Anonymous said...

I am afraid you do not see the point of my comment. Yes, of course the culprits have to be dealt with severely. How did they even come in illegally to commit the crime? That is because the authorities presume that the rich and famous need not be subject to the same security measures that others are subject to. And that is the real problem.

Ghost said...

Again, I have to disagree. People sneaking into Singapore, rich or poor, when caught would be punished. But kidnapping a child in the U.K, bringing the child to Singapore and you would be protected under Singapore law. To me, that's a far bigger problem.