The 2012
crime rate is the lowest in 29 years.
That is the
“right” thing that I am allowed to read and I am not trying to challenge that. It
is with great optimism and humility that I am looking at the crime/behaviour of
foreign nationals in our little red dot.
They caught my
attention as far back as 2009. Wasn’t that long ago, really. And it doesn’t
take a sharp observation to notice that the innovations
and vibrancy that they bring to our island.
They impress me in
a way which the locally-produced crime fails to. We have our own fair share of
crime too, not that there isn’t any, but the pace and its forms pale in
comparison to these foreign talents. Ours tend to be too ordinary and
predictable. The recent case of the Kovan
murders stood out though and beats our imagination.
On the bright
side, these crime or misbehaviour “demonstrated” by the foreign nationals make
great contributions towards our society in a positive manner as they help stick spurs in the tides of our own police
force and people who have been complacent for too long.
Sticking spurs into the tide on SPF—kicking and
scratching
Some foreign
nationals assault the authorities, an action that few of our people would think
of. Nevertheless, these foreign men and women were not afraid to challenge the
authorities physically. They kicked our police and one even demonstrated the talent
of a martial
art master and took on 3 police officers alone. A female Chinese national scratched
our SMRT staff
during a dispute.
These are certainly
good real-life opportunities to train our police to be always in their top combat
form on the ground. SMRT ground staff might need to upgrade themselves and take
up some form self-defence as part of their job scope should such physical
challenge become a norm in the imminent future, especially with predicted greater
influx of people before 2030.
Sticking spurs into our tides—land and air and MRT too
Singaporeans are a
complacent lot in our low-crime environment that we tend to let down our guard
whether in the air or on the ground.
On flights, we
leave our belongings in the overhead cabins and engrossed in the world of onboard
entertainment. When we place order food at food courts and cafes, we trustingly
hang our handbags on chairs and leave our handphones and even laptops on
tables. We place too much faith in our low-crime environment.
Thus, syndicates
responded to our faith.
Interestingly, the
Chinese nationals came up with the idea of stealing
in the aircrafts. With insecure cabin overheads and passengers engrossed in
their on-board entertainment gadgets, it is indeed an ideal and safe environment
for thefts. Our local thieves are really daft!
Some came as far
as South
America to help themselves with $10 000 worth of our valuables on the
ground, prying at food courts, shopping malls and cafes. Singapore lives up to the name of
one of the richest nations in the world.
MRT is not spared.
Our world class transport attracted even overseas
thieves to expand their territories to Singapore to operate
their activities on trains and stations. They reminded me of my travelling
experiences in some crime-common countries where I have to pay special
attention to my valuables on public transport.
A big thank to
these foreign syndicates who taught us to be vigilant whether on ground or off
ground.
Contribution to Sing Post
On the bright
side, thefts sometimes create positive job opportunities to our local
companies.
Between 2010 and
2011, two groups of South Americans came to Singapore for a “stealing
spree” and mailed their loots back to their home country, creating more
parcel transactions at our Sing Post and help create more jobs at Sing Post.
Hijacking of taxi and flying public bus stunts
Like a TV drama.
Taxis could be hijacked and taking a public bus that could “fly” across a road.
And these are all
conducted by ordinary people, not some stuntmen. 3 Anglo-Saxon Caucasians hijacked a taxi before revelling in
bashing up the cabbie and a passer-by. Chinese
national took a step beyond hijacking taxi and pulling punches, he drove the
taxi straight into an unfortunate cleaner.
Another Chinese
national somehow managed to allow our public
bus to skid off the road while negotiating a bend and send the bus “flying”
across the road before it overturned and killed one of the two passengers on
board. That is a 50% fatality rate travelling on a public bus.
Increased competition on housebreakings pie
Many are coming to
share the pie of housebreakings.
With the imminent increase of population, the pie for housebreaking
is growing. Nevertheless, even with an increase in the absolute number of
housebreakings, it is only a proportionate increase to the increased number of
homes appearing on our island.
So chances of our
houses being broken into are still as slim as before. The down side is, our local burglars will certainly feel the competitive heat from these foreign talents and their livelihoods might be adversely impacted.
Extra-ordinary violence
Fights involving local
gangs are often brutal as we have seen in the papers. Slashings and brutal
violence are not uncommon. Such violence, however, no longer restricts to gang
members.
Foreign nationals
bring their social habits to our boring island and spice up our social happenings.
Even a
hawker who originate from China took to a chopper to stop teens from hogging
onto computers. Another
man drovehis car into his teacher girlfriend and killing her for reasons unknown. Or
another boyfriend slashing his girlfriend 17 times on the face during a heated argument in Choa Chu
Kang blinding and killing her in the act. Or a husbandmurdering his wife, in Choa Chu Kang too. It has to be a cultural or social
habit in some countries with the preference of violence as a means of solution.
Not only the
locals have a bone to pick with our cabbies, foreigners too. A Swede
and a Norwegian
added vibrancy to our animosity with
cabbies. The Swede managed to flee from our island while the poor Norwegian has
to serve his time behind bars.
Globalization takes place in our prison cells
Internationally
famed little red dot we are. For the wrong reason perhaps. Attracted people
from all corners of the world to this little island with the intention to challenge
our laws or unconsciously provoked to
challenge our laws.
We are already
seeing an increase on the pace of globalization
within our prison cells too. It might create a little over-crowding issue to
our cells and availability might be an issue. KBW has relieved the pressure on
our BTOs but are our cells prepared for the worst-case scenario of 6.9 million
population?
With the large
foreign influx allowed onto our island in recent years, there are inevitably some
law-breakers who are isolated cases and not representative of their home
countries. Nevertheless, with the growing range of nationalities that we have
on this island, isolated cases will eventually accumulate. On the bright side,
that certainly adds more international colours
to our cells!
Changing social landscape
We certainly cannot
overlook the fact of the social wear and tear contributed by our local people. We
are not as crime-free as we are made to believe even before the lax immigration
rule. The casino presence makes its contribution too.
On a brighter
note, with the increasing openness of Singapore and our welcoming arms to
the world, foreign influx spices up our society and contributes enormously to the
new possibilities of wear and tear to our landscape and pushes us for more effective
and varied solutions to our social ills.
