Current Affairs
Yong Vui Kong happy for 2nd chance: M Ravi
By Andrew Loh
As activists, both Singaporean and foreign, heave a sigh of relief that the Attorney General’s Chambers has issued a Certificate of Cooperation to death row inmate Yong Vui Kong, how does the now 25-year old Vui Kong feel about it?
Vui Kong was sentenced to hang for trafficking in 47.27g of heroin into Singapore in 2008. All his appeals were dismissed and he has since exhausted all his legal avenues to plead against his sentence.
It was only through a change in the law on the mandatory death penalty in Singapore in 2012 that he now has an opportunity to be spared.
Besides his family members, only his lawyer M Ravi is allowed to visit him in Changi Prison.
M Ravi took up his case just weeks before Vui Kong was scheduled to hang on 4 December 2009. Two days before that, M Ravi lodged a constitutional challenge on the mandatory death penalty, thus securing a temporary reprieve for Vui Kong.
A subsequent campaign involving activists, supporters and Vui Kong’s family members, lasted the next four years.
In the 5 years that he has been in prison, Vui Kong immersed himself in Buddhist meditation practice and studies. He has been so intensely occupied with this that on her last visit his sister urged him to take up other interests as well.
Vui Kong had expressed hope that he would be able to help spread the anti-drug message, if given a chance. This perhaps is not as remote as it seemed when he first expressed this two years ago.
On Monday, M Ravi filed an application with the courts for resentencing, which will be heard by the original trial judge, Choo Han Teck.
The Online Citizen (TOC) asked M Ravi, who visited his client last week, about how Vui Kong felt when he heard the news, and how he is doing in prison.
TOC: How did Vui Kong react when you told him the news?
M Ravi: He was extremely happy to see the prospect of not being hanged and be given a second chance.
TOC: What are the things he is looking forward to doing?
M Ravi: Vui Kong is interested in studying and in becoming a graduate. Just the possibility that he might live allows him to engage in the world and develop his interests. It will be very exciting to see how he chooses to embrace his life if given the opportunity. It is also humbling to think how, in his circumstances, he will reach out and grab onto life if he is allowed to live. Just that idea causes one to reflect: how many free people are embracing their time on earth like this?
TOC: How is his physical health?
M Ravi: Vui Kong is extremely thin. The clothing available at the prison no longer fits him, and he improvises by tying on trousers like a sarong. He eats very little and devotes himself to his spiritual practices; living a monastic life. Of course his family and I are encouraging him to eat more and to make a strong effort to take care of his physical health.
TOC: Does he still meditate?
M Ravi: He definitely does. Vui Kong is a devout Buddhist. His spiritual practice is what sustains him. It takes a very strong person to keep going under the circumstances Vui Kong has been living under all these years. He has lost his youth to incarceration and his circumstance reminds him daily that he may lose his life. However, we are a step closer to preventing him from being executed by the State.
TOC: It undoubtedly has been quite an ordeal for him to be on death row for so many years. What are his thoughts about this?
M Ravi: First, let me say that life in prison wears on every man and the experience on death row can be crushing. Yong Vui Kong has resided in Changi Prison since he was 18-years old and he became a death row inmate shortly thereafter. Five years, especially for a young person, is a long time to live in almost complete isolation from family and society, under constant surveillance with no privacy and no ordinary social interaction or environmental stimulus. Prolonged confinement under such conditions can be psychologically harmful to any prisoner. In the case of an individual on death row, they live with a constant awareness that they will be killed by the same government that has taken everything away from them.
In Yong’s case, he is very blessed to have family that visit him very regularly, and fight for him and advocate for him.
TOC: As his lawyer and as one who is at the forefront of the anti-death penalty campaign, what are your thoughts on this new development with regards to Vui Kong’s case, and on the death penalty as a whole?
I think that Yong Vui Kong and his family have very generously given us an opportunity to really examine the effects of our drug laws on the accused, on families and on ourselves. Yong has chosen to spend the remainder of his life living according to a spiritual path and his example compels us to ask spiritual questions.
Are we as Singaporeans satisfied to consent to so many young people being hanged in the gallows in our country? We have permitted this regime to continue as if these executions were happening in some alternate reality, as if we had no say in the matter. When you read Vui Kong’s story and you learn about his devoted family, you are no longer distant from the reality that we allow people like him to be killed by our government, in our names, because we say nothing in objection to their killing.
It is my hope that we never have another execution in Singapore. I hope everyone who is moved by Yong’s story, and no longer wants to be complicit in the death penalty regime, will join with local anti-death penalty groups in Singapore to call for an end to this brutal, tragic practice.
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Current Affairs
Man arrested for alleged housebreaking and theft of mobile phones in Yishun
A 23-year-old man was arrested for allegedly breaking into a Yishun Ring Road rental flat and stealing eight mobile phones worth S$3,400 from five tenants. The Singapore Police responded swiftly on 1 September, identifying and apprehending the suspect on the same day. The man has been charged with housebreaking, which carries a potential 10-year jail term.
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SINGAPORE: A 23-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly breaking into a rental flat along Yishun Ring Road and stealing eight mobile phones from five tenants.
The incident occurred in the early hours on Sunday (1 September), according to a statement from the Singapore Police Force.
The authorities reported that they received a call for assistance at around 5 a.m. on that day.
Officers from the Woodlands Police Division quickly responded and, through ground enquiries and police camera footage, were able to identify and apprehend the suspect on the same day.
The stolen mobile phones, with an estimated total value of approximately S$3,400, were recovered hidden under a nearby bin.
The suspect was charged in court on Monday with housebreaking with the intent to commit theft.
If convicted, he could face a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine.
In light of this incident, the police have advised property owners to take precautions to prevent similar crimes.
They recommend securing all doors, windows, and other openings with good quality grilles and padlocks when leaving premises unattended, even for short periods.
The installation of burglar alarms, motion sensor lights, and CCTV cameras to cover access points is also advised. Additionally, residents are urged to avoid keeping large sums of cash and valuables in their homes.
The investigation is ongoing.
Last month, police disclosed that a recent uptick in housebreaking incidents in private residential estates across Singapore has been traced to foreign syndicates, primarily involving Chinese nationals.
Preliminary investigations indicate that these syndicates operate in small groups, targeting homes by scaling perimeter walls or fences.
The suspects are believed to be transient travelers who enter Singapore on Social Visit Passes, typically just a day or two before committing the crimes.
Before this recent surge in break-ins, housebreaking cases were on the decline, with 59 reported in the first half of this year compared to 70 during the same period last year.
However, between 1 June and 4 August 2024, there were 10 reported housebreaking incidents, predominantly in private estates around the Rail Corridor and Bukit Timah Road.
The SPF has intensified efforts to engage residents near high-risk areas by distributing crime prevention advisories, erecting alert signs, and training them to patrol their neighborhoods, leading to an increase in reports of suspicious activity.
Current Affairs
Consumers Association of Singapore fined S$20,000 for PDPA breaches following two data security incidents
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The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) has been fined S$20,000 by the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) for breaches under the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA).
According to a judgement which was published on 28 August, the fine was imposed due to the consumer watchdog’s failure to implement reasonable security measures to protect the personal data in its possession and to establish necessary policies and practices required under the PDPA.
The breaches resulted in two significant incidents, one in October 2022 and another in June 2023, where the personal data of up to 34,760 individuals was potentially compromised.
Both incidents were handled under the Expedited Decision Procedure (EDP) at the request of CASE, with the organization admitting to all the facts and contraventions of the PDPA, leading to a faster resolution of the case.
The First Incident: Phishing Attack in October 2022
The first incident occurred in October 2022 when a threat actor accessed CASE’s email accounts and sent phishing emails from its official email addresses.
On 8 October 2022, some consumers received unsolicited emails from “[email protected],” which falsely claimed that their complaints had been escalated to the “collections and compensation department” and that they were eligible for compensation.
The recipients were asked to provide their banking details by clicking on a chat icon.
The following day, similar phishing emails were sent from “[email protected],” an account used for complaints that had progressed to mediation. CASE later discovered that the phishing emails had affected up to 22,542 email addresses.
Further investigations revealed that the phishing emails likely resulted from the threat actor obtaining login credentials from a CASE employee via a phishing attack.
The compromised accounts led to the sending of 5,205 phishing emails to 4,945 recipients. Although CASE acted swiftly to suspend the affected accounts and reset all administrator passwords, three consumers reported that they had clicked on the phishing links and collectively lost S$217,900. CASE subsequently lodged a police report.
The Second Incident: Data Breach During Vendor Migration
While PDPC was investigating the first incident, a second breach came to light in June 2023. On 22 June 2023, PDPC received a complaint about a phishing email that replicated a consumer’s complaint previously submitted to CASE.
This led to the discovery that the personal data of 12,218 individuals, including names, email addresses, contact numbers, and complaint details, had been exposed. The PDPC concluded that the breach likely occurred during a data migration exercise conducted by CASE between December 2019 and January 2020 when CASE switched vendors.
Investigations revealed that CASE’s contract with one of its vendors, Total eBiz Solutions Pte Ltd (TES), did not stipulate clear security responsibilities. This lack of contractual clarity contributed to the data breach during the migration process, highlighting CASE’s negligent vendor management.
PDPC Findings and Penalties
The PDPC found that CASE had failed to enforce its password management policy, with some passwords not meeting minimum length and complexity requirements and others remaining unchanged for up to four years. Furthermore, CASE’s vendor management was deemed negligent, as one of its contracts did not specify clear security responsibilities, putting personal data at risk.
CASE admitted to not conducting regular security awareness training for its staff, with the last session held five years before the first incident.
The PDPC also noted that CASE lacked an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) policy, particularly in relation to patching and maintaining IT systems. The absence of a documented IT infrastructure management plan, insufficient logging and monitoring practices, and the lack of security reviews over the three years preceding the first breach were significant failures highlighted in the judgment.
In assessing the financial penalty, the PDPC considered the nature and gravity of the breaches, the duration of non-compliance, and CASE’s annual turnover. The fine of $20,000 was determined to be appropriate in light of these factors.
Remedial Actions by CASE
It is said that CASE, which is headed by Mr Melvin Yong, People’s Action Party Member of Parliament for Radin Mas, has implemented several measures to enhance its cybersecurity in response to the breaches.
These include introducing multi-factor authentication for all web-based applications, strengthening password complexity requirements, decommissioning end-of-life devices, and implementing patch management software for security updates.
CASE has also revised its contracts with outsourced vendors to include data protection clauses and mandated annual data protection training for all staff members.
CASE is working towards obtaining the Cyber Essentials Mark and the Data Protection Trust Mark to reinforce its commitment to safeguarding personal data and complying with PDPA obligations.
The PDPC has directed CASE to review and update its data protection policies, rectify all identified security gaps, and report back within one week of completion. The organization has also been instructed to conduct a penetration test after addressing the vulnerabilities to ensure no further security gaps exist.
The post Consumers Association of Singapore fined S$20,000 for PDPA breaches following two data security incidents appeared first on Gutzy Asia.
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