S’pore & NUS Respond to Singaporean ‘China Spy’; He Has Since Been ‘Expelled’ from NUS

Before anything, here’s a disclaimer: the correct term to address Dickson Yeo is Chinese agent, and not exactly “spy”, as “spy” is a very board term. We’re only using it in the headline to clickbait—I mean, just so that you’d know who we’re talking about.

And to make you sound smarter while you talk to your Tinder date, here are a few more correct terms: the people who recruited Dickson are called “operatives”, though they’d refer themselves as “handlers”. Dickson would be referred to as an “asset” to them. The sensitive information he obtained is called “intel”.

Reader Bao: You guys are so smart

That’s because we have an active Netflix subscription.

If you’ve not read about Dickson Yeo Jun Wei, you should download our app now. In summary, he pleaded guilty to being a Chinese agent after he was recruited back in 2015, and had scammed Americans who had intel into writing reports that would be sent to China.

With such a big hoo-ha, you’d have wondered if he had also revealed any intel about Singapore to his handlers, like the bak kut teh recipe in army cookhouses that he obtained during his latest ICT.

S’pore & NUS Respond to Singaporean ‘China Spy’; PhD Candidature Has Since Been Cancelled

Ah Gong has responded, and it’s a big no.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that they’ve known about Dickson’s arrest since last year. “Investigations have not revealed any direct threat to Singapore’s security.”

This means no other army cookhouse in other countries can cook bak kut teh.

They added, “Singaporeans are expected to abide by the laws of the country which they visit or reside in. MFA is rendering the appropriate consular assistance, as required, to Yeo.”

Consular assistance is help by the diplomatic agents of a country to citizens of that country who are living or traveling overseas. So if Dickson needs help, there would be Singaporean diplomats to help him in the US.

Dr Balakrishnan, the Foreign Affairs Minister, also said this earlier today: “He’s a Singapore citizen. Our duty is to provide consular assistance to him, according to his needs.” No further information was provided.

And NUS has also responded.

Lest you’re not aware, Dickson was enrolled as a PhD student in Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy’s Public Policy programme in 2015.

Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy is a postgraduate school of the National University of Singapore, offering five master’s degrees and a PhD in Public Policy, the one that Dickson is enrolled in.

He had applied for a leave of absence in 2019, and court documents from the US show that he had lived in the US from January 2019 to July 2019.

This means technically, he’s still a PhD student in NUS.

Reader Bao: Oh, NUS. No wonder he’s so daring lah, he has the immu—

LKYSPP has “expelled” Dickson, saying in response to queries that “in light of the information released by the US Department of Justice, Mr Yeo’s PhD candidature has been terminated with immediate effect and he is no longer a student at the school.”

I might not be a spy who can read Dickson’s mind, but somehow I know that the expulsion would be the least of his worries.

Dickson will be sentenced on 9 October 2020 in the US, and he could face up to 10 years in prison.