After a military personnel in an army camp abused a dog, instead of apologising, the Singapore army (SAF), proceeded to punish the brave whistle-blower for having told others about the dog abuse.
The Dog Abuse Video:
The whistle-blower was a young man who had been forcefully conscripted into National Service (NS) in Singapore.
The father of the national servicemen soon complained about his son's predicament.
"However, things got out of hand this time when the lieutenant colonel personally brutally hit an innocent dog in the presence of the NSmen, as a demonstration of 'how it is done' in order to ensure that the strays would not dare to approach the army camp in the future," he wrote. "This was witnessed by my son and eight other NSFs who were threatened to be charged if they did not keep their silence."
“(This) even after they took the statements of my son and the eight other NSFs of Pasir Ris camp who witnessed the lieutenant colonel abuse a dog,” wrote Spencer. He then wrote that a representative from MINDEF called the ALL rescuer up to find out the identity of the NSF who recorded and shared the video with her, promising that it was “purely for investigation purposes into the animal abuse”, and that no charges would be pressed against Spencer’s son.“It is clear that MINDEF did not keep their word,” he went on, saying that there “was no honour in the way this situation was handled” by the ministry. “It is only our word against theirs with regards to the empty promise that was made.”
The dog abuser, a LTC, lieutenant-colonel, was "given" a counselling session, only, for his role in this saga.
The whistle-blower, a young boy, however, was given a 21 day Suspension of leave, meaning for everyday for 21 days, he had to report to the military police every 2 hours., and was confined to the military camp.
That inhumane act of making the young man report every 2 hours itself seems to be a breach of human rights.
Soon, it went viral over the Internet.
- http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/dog-video-lands-singapore-s-army-in-hot-water-1.1653060
- http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1435777/singapore-soldier-who-leaked-video-army-camp-dog-abuse-punished
- http://sg.sports.yahoo.com/news/alleged-singapore-military-camp-dog-abuse-sparks-row-094006490.html
- http://eastasianews.net/?p=39134
Some excerpts:
Singapore's military has sparked an online storm after punishing a soldier for leaking video footage of a dog allegedly being abused inside an army camp. The controversy was triggered after a soldier filmed a cowering stray dog in a military camp bathroom with a taut white rope round its neck, preventing it from lying down or moving around.
Background to the Incident
The current government of Singapore operates a forced conscripted army.
Young men are coercively placed into the armed forces at ages 18-22, which many Singaporean men have said have disadvantaged them in the global workforce.
If they do not respond to mailed in letters to report for enlistment or reporting for duty, they are threatened with persecution, fines, harassment by multiple phone messages and mailers, and detention barracks.
- https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=234951963351987
- https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152653123392501&set=a.10150195919142501.371949.663282500&type=1&theater
- https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10202578908208142&id=1059662158
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJYpZf0w5fU
- http://mothership.sg/2014/02/father-of-nsf-charged-with-taking-video-of-dog-abuse-speaks-out-on-social-media/
- http://mothership.sg/2014/02/nsf-whistleblower-deserves-a-medal-for-taking-video-of-animal-cruelty-in-camp/
Lastly, a petition has been launched to punish the LTC SAF military personnel involved, amidst allegations of corruption, cover-ups, and being not transparent about the whole process.
Petition to punish the dog abuser and punish those who are systematically covering up abuse http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/agri-food-veterinary-authority-of-singapore-ava-stop-insisting-the-words-of-the-9-nsmen-who-witnessed-the-abuse-of-the-dog-in-pasir-ris-camp-as-untrue-unfounded-punish-the-lieutenant-colonel-for-the-abuse-revoke-the-charges-against-the-2-nsmen
All in all, it proved how stupid and over-bearing the National Service in Singapore could be for the young men involved, and how much abuse and cover-up there was when involving the conscripts.
DOUCHEBAG LEVEL: 1 - Douchebag of the highest order
*The author blogs at http://stupidestsingapore.blogspot.sg