Buffoons Beget Buffoons

"Dangerous criminals" corralled by SPF at Bedok Division Station

80 youths - some as young as 12 - were arrested by the Singapore Police Force on Thursday night in the course of a anti-loansharking operation. Some were handcuffed like dangerous criminals and bundled into patrol cars for the traumatic ride to the lock-up. Their transgression - responding to an online ad seeking students to hand out fliers. The father of a 13-year old joining worried parents at the Bedok Police Division station said, "It was basically chaos. Imagine waiting at a police station as your children are being questioned by the police."

Some were released only on posting bail. They have real cause for concern. Technically, the kids can be prosecuted for "assisting in the operations of illegal moneylenders". This is what happens when police go by the letter of the law, instead of the spirit of the law. Even if the fliers were for a new restaurant, and subsequently someone died of food poisoning, the youths could be held as accessories to murder by these clowns. This is what happens when the law enforcers can't tell the good guys from the bad guys, the victims from the victimised.

A police spokesman said the kids were handcuffed "to ensure the safety and security of both suspects and officers would not be compromised as there was a large number of suspects." Armed with baton, gun and taser, and the cop is frightened by a 12 year old in school uniform? Still clueless about the looming public relations disaster and greater social outrage, Commander of Bedok Police Division, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Police (DAC) Teo Chun Ching had the cheek to add, "Parents should be mindful of their children's activities and educate them so that they do not fall prey to these unscrupulous criminals." To that we should add, the minister in charge should be mindful of the police's idiotic antics and educate the public so they do not fall prey to their abuse of authority.

Meanwhile, police released a 600-worded statement in response to the criticism about the handling of Ismil Kadar's wrongful conviction by saying they will motivate officers "to work harder to collect such evidence at the scene of crime". Not a word was mentioned about the more serious observation by the appeals court, "To our consternation, three vital items of evidence were not provided to counsel for the appellants by the prosecution until very late in the proceedings."

And this morning, Aedit Abdullah wrote to the press as Chief Prosecutor for the Attorney General, to complain they had bad press.

Listen, dummy: Ismil was convicted of murder. His lawyer appealled. Else he would have been hanged. Did you file for the appeal? You expect us to believe the high and mighty prosecutor, meaning you, will act on his behalf after stumbling across your own boo-boo?

Aedit admits, even with fresh evidence in hand, they persisted to charge Ismil with committing robbery with hurt. Hello, Ismil was not in the room! His transgression was for selling a stolen mobile phone - have you even read the case notes?

One suspects that most of those blue uniformed must have a IQ lower than Ismil's 75. The tragedy is that the Police Commisioners will be lining up in droves for the National Day Awards. We need our version of Operation Bersih, and clean the crap from the system. Maybe we should hang our flag upside down this August, that's an international sign of distress - SOS - Save Our Singapore.