The Online Citizen A Community of Singaporeans
By Alex Ong
An open missive on the recent Yishun teen suicide case:
When I first heard about the case and the circumstances surrounding it, I was angry but not even surprised at all by what has happened.
I have been locked up twice at Ang Mo Kio police station, and what I will tell you next, is truthfully based on what I experienced there.
The police officers responsible for locking up people? Mostly sadists.
They also hire goons from Aetos to do their dirty work for them, and their behaviour is even worse.
They do not care for whether you are a minor, old, weak, strong, have known mental issues, or anything else. They can treat you as a lower lifeform, and they will do it.
"NO SYMPATHY, NO EMPATHY"
These are the exact words right out of the mouth of one of the sadists... I mean officers in there. Female. Indian.
Those words, and her face, I will forever remember it for the rest of eternity.
Feeling suicidal? They will tie you up, put you in a padded cell, and ignore you completely.
Have dietary restrictions? Fuck you, eat the shit we give you. Or starve. Your choice.
Don't want to go in there? "Don't commit suicide lah!". Direct quote from one of the hired Aetos goons. Again words I will never forget.
They don't care about your emotions. They don't care about your basic psychological needs. They don't give a fuck about any of it at all.
Now imagine a 14-year-old innocent teen, wrongfully accused, to be suddenly plucked out of school and subjected to such abuse.
I don't give a fuck that they did it "low-key". Obviously, the abuse doesn't start until it's behind closed doors and insurmountable walls, which is where they can do their dirty work away from the public's eyes.
Why do you think I got panic attacks after my second lockup? Why do you think I need professional psychological help from the Institute of Mental Health urgently afterward on both times?
The process, the psychological torment they force you through, it leaves deep, irreparable damage on your psyche.
You don't come to me saying that the teen was already "weak" when he committed suicide. This is a young boy who had reasons to live. He has a loving family. He was looking forward to participating in a school activity the next day.
You don't go from someone looking forward to life to being dead by suicide overnight unless something destroyed you psychologically. And given what I experienced, I'm not the least bit surprised that things happened the way it did.
If you never experienced what I did, in my shoes, in reality, you will never understand how damaging it is or comprehend how someone could kill himself over it, and seek other excuses for your reasoning.
To the Singapore police and the responsible ministers, especially to those who allow this to happen while sitting in your ivory towers: your practices have snuffed out a young life full of promise, full of potential. You have blood on your hands that you can never ever even begin to hope that you can clean off. Your blood tainted hands shall be up for the entire world to see, until the end of days.
And don't think you can try to shake me out of my account. I shall stand by what I said, right here, with every fibre of my soul. No amount of torment, torture, intimidation, even death threats to me or my family, shall ever make me change. I will swear by it, retell all of it straight into your face, hand over my heart or on a religious book of your choice, under an oath in a courtroom, and in any way you want to make me swear by it. You can never run from the truth, and you can never try to change it.
This post was first published on Alex Ong's Facebook page as a personal experience with the police