The mother of an undergraduate student of National University of Singapore (NUS) who was filmed in the shower by another male student took to her Facebook account on Saturday (20 April) to speak up about the incident, adding that her trust in the university is now broken.
Mary Baey, the mother of third-year communications undergraduate Monica Baey, wrote in the Facebook comment that the punishment given to the male student by the university was ‘completely unacceptable”.
TOC has confirmed with Ms Monica that her mother is indeed Mrs Mary.
In her comment, Mrs Mary noted that she was shocked upon hearing the event that her daughter had encountered, and condemned the 12-month conditional warning that the police gave him after two months of investigation. She viewed the punishment as “completely ridiculous”.
“What this mean is, the police are giving him a slap on his hand and say don’t do it again within 12 months. How can we know this is not going to happen again and how can there be no serious consequences for such action?” she questioned.
Mrs Mary also added that NUS’s CCTV clearly shows that the guy was going from toilet to toilet to look for his victim, which means he knows exactly what he was doing and the actual video was found in his mobile phone.
As such, she finds it absurd for the school to let him off the hook so lightly with just a “pathetic apology and a suspension of a semester”. In fact, the one-month suspension didn’t do much to him as he managed to secure a job while he misses his classes.
“He will be back to NUS as per normal with no consequences. All he is not allowed is to not attend classes. This is completely unacceptable,” she vented.
Earlier, her daughter has also called out to NUS for its lack of action taken against the male perpetrator.
As a parent, Mrs Mary mentioned that she trusted NUS to provide a safe haven for the students to live and protect them from such incidents, but now the trust has been broken.
She also applauded her daughter’s bravery for speaking up and going public about her traumatic event on her Instagram account, adding that her daughter is seeking redress for what has happened to her.
Commenting on NUS’s sentence to the male student, Mary said she wants to see the school “take strong action for such incidences and have clear campus policies that will protect female students against such sexual harassment”, adding that it has also not provided any additional security for the communal bathing area for female students.
As a final note, Mary said her family will stood by Monica’s decision to seek justice. “Mum & Dad will be there to support you and you have been courageous in speaking out on this matter”.
Following Ms Monica’s sexual harassment encounter, the executive-committee of the National University of Singapore Student Union (NUSSU Exco), has issued a statement to express its condemnation of any form of sexual harassment, which is a serious community problem that everyone has a responsibility in handling and its regret that Ms Monica, and other victims of sexual harassment, have had to go through such traumatic experiences as an NUS student.
The NUSSU Exco wrote, “However, justice needs to consider both the victim and the perpetrator, and needs to be proportionate. While the discussion on the issue of sexual harassment and this particular case is important and welcome, NUSSU Exco also strongly urges fellow students to not harass Mr Nicholas Lim (the perpetrator) and his family.
Separately, a statement signed by 489 former and current NUS students was sent to NUS staff members, in which they had voiced their concerns regarding the university’s approach towards sexual harassment, “particularly in reference to the case where a female NUS undergraduate student, Ms Monica Baey, was filmed while showering without her consent”.
