TWO security breaches at Woodlands in two months . . this is totally unacceptable!!
I am willing to accept the head hanchos claiming of a lapse in the first case. After all, it was just a crazy teacher coming over. But, how the hell a second case can happen so shortly after the reprimand from Deputy PM Teo is beyond me. Does he not have any real command and control at the ICA?!
Why am I making such a big deal out of this? My first question to DPM Teo is who in the right mind will make a charge at the checkpoint? Remember, in the first case, the woman was CRAZY. The second case here is obviously not the same. This person must be carrying an ILLEGAL cargo for him to charge through just like that!! Simple reason here – the reward is much greater than the risk involved! Now, this old man has been charged with vandalism and acting rashly. The maximum penalty for these two charges are 4 years jail term and $7000 fine. Let me tell you why it is worth it for this old man. Assume that the cargo is heroine and the street value for it is a cool million! The penalty for drug trafficking is DEATH sentence. So, was it worthwhile for him to take the risk.
Of course YES!
But if you ask me, DRUGS is the least of our worry. What if the illegal cargo was FIREARMS!! Now, it is normal for us to speculate on this? Of course YES. Remember, the old man charged through the barrier at 4.03pm but the car was only found at 8.30pm!! During this time the man would have completed all his deals and hid his ill-gotten gains somewhere! Now, thanks to the incompetent clowns at the Checkpoint, we may not be robbed at knife-point anymore. Instead, we could be rob at gun-point! And even banks are not safe now, if firearms were really brought in!!
Last but not least, what if this was part of a terrorist act? To me, the blunder made at the Checkpoint has the same effect as allowing passengers to board with forged passports. In fact, it is worse! At least for the Malaysian custom officer, they can still claim they were negligent. Here, so many officers were standing near the car, yet the old man was able to drive off. There was absolutely no sense of urgency in getting the driver to get out of the car. If I were the officer holding the baton, I would have used it to smash the driver’s window. Alternatively, firearms should have been used or at least pointed at the driver!
If you ask me, we have truly showed the criminals or terrorists that there is no longer any need to SMUGGLE things over anymore. They can just make a run for it at the Checkpoint! That is how bad the immigration officers at the Woodlands Checkpoint are looking now!!
Going ahead, what should be done? First of all, replace the Head at the Woodlands Checkpoint for running such a great show. Teo Chee Hean should also step down as DPM and not run in the next election. But of course all these are fairy-tale endings which we know do not happen in PAP-ruled Singapore. Here, in the land where there is ZERO responsibility and accountability, they just smile and treat nothing has happened at all.
So let’s turn to the more practical aspect of strengthening the Checkpoint itself. One, make sure there are mobile police officers armed with firearms on standby 24 hours. That is, some officers are either on bike or in a car, ready to go on hot pursuit for ANYONE who charges through the Checkpoint. Personally, I cannot accept any recovery or arrest that happens HOURS later. The arrest must be made IMMEDIATELY!! Two, can’t rely everything on this 24h stand-by mobile unit. There should be a continuous stream of cameras tracking the traffic out of the Checkpoint. Should the mobile unit be delayed in deployment, the exact location of the car can be picked up by these cameras and that information will be passed on to ANY police which is nearest. The line of sight here must never be lost, so that the culprits can be arrested ASAP.
This is no longer a case of complacency BUT a case of incompetence!! Even if heads do not roll here, make sure we implement enough changes so that we don’t see a third case in the next 50 years!!
MC HAMMER
Editor's Note: Interestingly, ICA prefers to spend their resources on harrassing members of the opposition and civil activists like Gilbert Goh, Goh Meng Seng, Han Hui Hui etc by delaying them at Singapore customs whenever they are returning or leaving the country. (Read: PAP ABUSES POWER THROUGH ICA BY CONSTANTLY STOPPING OPPOSITION MEMBERS AT CUSTOMS)