Unless your name’s Patrick Star, chances are you would have heard of Chew Han Eng’s recent slip-up, when he was arrested after attempting to flee on a sampan.
Well, as it turns out, Singaporean media wasn’t the only entity to latch onto the particularly juicy bit, as even foreign media wanted their slice of the pie!
And guess what?
BBC News was one of them!
Wait, what happened?
For the real life Patrick Stars out there, here’s a rough breakdown of the events leading up to what I like to deem ‘the epic escape without the escape’.
In November 2015
Six City Harvest Church leaders were handed jail terms ranging from 21 months to eight years, following a high-profile case which involved the misuse of church funds to fuel the pop music career of Kong’s wife, Ms Ho Yeow Sun.
Incidentally, the mission was known as the Crossover project.
Crossing over from the holy grounds to the prison bars, that is.
And yes, that’s Ho Yeow Sun, pop singer and the artist behind ‘China wine’.
So anyway, five of the leaders started serving their sentences last April, which left Chew Eng Han (the star of the article) the sole exception still in freedomland. Out on a $1 million bail, he was supposed to join his pals on 22 Feb for no less than three years and four months.
Note: he was supposed to serve his sentence earlier, but requested for a deferment till after the lunar New Year. His original sentence was also supposed to be six years, but it was reduced by the High court in April last year (2017).
Incidentally, he had told the Straits Times that the imminent decision was “sombre news but something that’s inevitable“.
But is it really?
Just yesterday (21 Feb), it was revealed that Chew had attempted to leave Singapore by boat. And lest you’re unaware, it’s illegal.
Here’s a brief timeline of how it went down:
Chew gets on a motorised sampan at Palau Ubin main jetty, and prepares to head towards Malaysia with boat driver Tan Poh Teck. Coincidentally, the boat had two kayaks on it.
Which makes you wonder what he was trying to do there, huh?
However, the police (which has earlier received information about the planned escape) intervened, and intercepted the sampan about 2.4 km from the jetty.
Police found Chew with about $5,000 in cash and fishing equipment. When questioned, the men had originally replied this:
They were fishing.
Fishing? One day before serving his jail sentence?
Damn, this man must love fishing a lot!
Well anyway the police evidently didn’t really empathise with the dude, as the duo was subsequently arrested and locked up at Police Cantonment Complex.
A third man, Chew Eng Soon, was also arrested yesterday (21 Feb) for abetting the offence.
Charged
On 22 Feb, Chew was charged with leaving Singapore unlawfully. The case will be mentioned on 1 March at 2:30 p.m.
If convicted, Chew faces a fine of up to $2,000 and/or a jail term of up to six months. The maximum penalty for abetting in the offence, in case you’re wondering, is two years’ jail and a $6,000 fine.
Meanwhile, the boatman, Tan Poh Teck, was also charged for abetting Chew in his escape attempt.
Foreign media
So yeah, the news that was so widely publicised in Singapore, actually made its rounds to one of the most recognised global broadcasters, BBC News.
Which means that now, pretty much everyone knows about Chew’s legend:
Tried to escape on a boat and got caught. Reason?
Oh, just fishing.
Although to be fair, BBC News did report on the church’s misdoings two years ago.
So, Chew, if there’s any consolation… know that you turned up on BBC News not once, but twice.
#negativefameisstillfame #fishingonaboat
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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com
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