What do you need?
This Matrix Island is getting to become a very funny Island; Not only are statisticians not doing a statistician's job, police officers are also not doing a police's job!
Our police only know how to bully meek human batteries in hospitals. Do they dare to arrest thugs who harrass others at their homes at 3am repeatedly, and who look fiercer than the police officers themselves? Read on!
早报 2007-03-16
收账公司太嚣张 - 张良伟
我是以一种非常茫然的心情向贵报陈述我身为一个新加坡公民的不寻常经历。
我是一家私人有限公司的董事，由于公司与另一家公司在生意上产生了一些债务上的纠纷，对方就让某收债公司来催账。这本应是公司与公司之间的债务，不是私人债务，可是收账公司却找到我家来收账，第一次是去年7月份某天晚上11点多钟，来势汹汹，像极了大耳窿。
我当时就告诉收账公司的人，这是公司与公司之间的债务纠纷，应该去找公司来解决，而不应该找某个人或某个董事。新加坡是一个法治的国家，有必要时可通过法律的途径来解决。可是收账公司的人根本不听我的这些劝告，接下这来这几个人就在我家门口死缠烂打，那时已是晚上12点多钟了，此举严重地骚扰了我的家人和邻里的休息。在这种情形之下我就报了警。
警员来后将其劝退。过了两天这些人和上次一样再度上门骚扰。无奈我又报了警，这次他们看到警方人员的到来态度很嚣张。我问警方要怎样制止他们的这种行为？警方回答说他们也没办法，他们要来100次，那你就报警100次。这回答真令我吃惊。如果连警方都没有办法了，那我们百姓又能怎样呢？
基此，我就马上去警局报了案，希望能够引起警方的重视，并能有效的遏制这种行为。警方说他们会进行调查。然而，没过几天这些人又一次在凌晨3点多钟把我及我的家人从睡梦中惊醒，当时我非常的气愤，出门与之理论，还险些发生肢体冲突。
我于是又报了警，他们还当着警方人员的面口口声声说你不要给我们讲法律欠债还钱就好。看到他们这种野蛮行为，警方也奈何他们不得。再次让人失望！这件事情在邻里之间造成非常不好的影响，也使得我无法安心工作、孩子也无法认真读书。
(Rough translation: In front of the police, (at 3am!!) the debt-collectors challenged their victim (who did not owe any money): "you dont talk to me about the LAW! owe money, pay up"! The supposed enforcers of the law responded on the spot: "we cannot do anything". I was disappointed... neighbours harrassed, i no mood to work, kids' studies affected).
在报警、报案都无后果，万般无奈之下我只好找到警局有关负责人诉说事情的来龙去脉和我的疑问：私人有限公司在生意上和另一公司发生了债务纠纷，收账公司（有执照）到底有没有权利三更半夜上门骚扰。警方到底应不应该制止这种事情的发生？警方负责人当时告诉我他们会调查处理这件事情。并在两天后致电给我说，警方会调收账公司的人来问话。就此我心想总算找到部门可以帮忙解决问题了，可此后警方负责人也没有给我一个明确的答复。
万万没有想到的是就在大年初四下午，有人竟到我家门口泼漆，并在墙上写道：XXX（我的名字）欠债还钱！留下手机号码扬长而去。当时，我儿子放学回来看到此景吓得不敢进家。如此的这般嚣张。我又立刻报警，警方赶到现场记录并拍照，警方让我再次去警局报案。报案后我问警方该怎么处理？警方说会进行调查。
调查！到底还需要多长时间来调查，难道要等到发生了不该发生的命案，警方才能采取有效的行动吗？我感到自己很无助。即刻写信并附上照片（泼漆）给警察总部，过后警局写信让我约见中央警署一位相关的负责人。由于新年假期，过了一个星期后（3月5日）我满怀希望的去见了这位负责人，可是他却告诉我这种案子可能不归他管。
我说是警局写信告诉我来找你的，他说这是他们内部搞错了。我问到底归哪个部门负责？他说还要问上司。还要等。这到底是怎么一回事，我现在真的是求助无门了。从去年7月份到现在已经8个月过去了，期间：收账公司来我家先后骚扰了10次，我报警7、8次，到警局报案5次，但答复都是在调查中。在新加坡这样的一个法治的国家，竞然连百姓的安危都无法得到保障。我们的政府致力于为人民营造一个良好的经商环境，鼓励新加坡人创业打造一个有活力的新加坡，试问这样的环境谁还敢出来创业、做生意、当董事？我想通过贵报请有关部门能给我一个明确的答复！
Summary: Company A owed money to company B. Company B employed debt collector to harrass Director of company A in the middle of the night. Director explained to police and to debt collector that he, as an individual, is not responsible for his company's debt because the company is private-limited, and any debt issue should be settled via court company-to-company. Police told poor guy (paraphrased): "we cannot do anything. If they harrass you (at 3am) 100 times, you call us 100 times lor".
Paint sprayed on his door. Poor guy harrassed for past 8 months, more than 10 times, called police 7-8 times, made formal police report at police station 5 times and the police had only one answer for him each time: "we are still investigating".
Poor Guy wrote to police HQ. Police HQ pushed to Central Police Station. Central Police Station's officer pushed it to his boss! Poor Guy finally wrote to the press.
Guy asked (paraphrased) : "F you govt la, talk wat shit about encouraging entreprenuership? If an individual can be harrassed in this way for the debt of a private-limited company, and the knnbccb police can say they cannot do anything about it, who the F dare to be entrepreneur and start a company here?"
This is not the first time. The last reported incident i heard was about a doctor who was beaten up by gangsters in Geylang, and the police who arrived said they cannot arrest the gangster! How many more such cases occur unreported?
Our govt organisations do recruit very interesting people: statisticians who are good at answering poltical questions during interview, and police officers who are better at robbing organs than arresting gangsters who beat up others or who harrass and threaten people (who owe no debt) in the middle of the night!
Let's see how much more such mess will be created once the casinoes start operating and more people start going into debt - personal debts, mind you - unlike this case of a private-limited company.
Anyway, the Human Battery reminds himself again of what he wrote earlier about becoming an entrepreneur.
(If the poor victim had ask the police "what do you need to see in order to arrest them", maybe the police would respond with what Neo said? haha! Maybe that's when they will arrest a person? Or will they take cover immediately?)
Tank: So what do you need? Besides a miracle.
Neo: Guns. Lots of guns.
posted by The Human Battery @ 3/17/2007
8 comments
8 Comments:
I thought intimidation, harrassment, making threats, being a public nuisance, disturbing peace of the neighbouhood etc are all grounds for arrest?
I think the legalisation of debt collecting agencies is a bad move. Previously, those loan sharks did things evasively knowing that they were illegal. Now, these registered debt collectors do the exact same thing, only this time knowing that the police cant do anything to them. Heck, they may even be employing previous loan sharks to do the job! More suicides when the "integrated resorts" open.
Actually, I am very confident that the police will do something, now that the case is exposed in the newspaper. That's the unfortunate way our govt work: it will not do anything right, until people expose it. That, by itself, would not have made it unfortunate - lots of govt all over the world are like that. The unfortunate part is that at the same time, our press and tv are government-controlled! So lots of govt wrong-doings are never exposed, and hence no actions are ever taken by the authorities in many of these unreported cases.
Hence my advice to the Sim family -- information is power. Expose what happened to your family to more people! Make a video of your own. Our tv program has not done justice to your family and in fact, shifted public opinion to the govt's favour.
Thanks Mr Human Battery. It is good for us English Educated to know what is happening to our Singaporeans from the Chinese Ed. You are helpful indeed to bridge this divide.
My husband was a victim of cheat. He supposedly sold his car to an agent who was supposed to transfer the name of car ownership. The cheat never did the transfer. We ended up still "owning" the car and were liable for the road tax and car monthly instalment to finance company. When we lodged police report, they told us no crime was committed because we handed over the car willingly! What stupid logic is that? We handed over as lay people who don't know about the technicalities of selling cars. We were deceived into thinking once we hand over and the guy paid us a deposit, he had bought it and would transfer the name!! Police tell us to take civil suit, so we went to lawyer, lawyer said the fellow is no where to be found, company closed down, not at his previous address anymore so only police have authority to find this guy for lawyer to serve papers. We went back police, police said sinc no crime committed they can't go looking for this guy. In desparation, we went to see PAP MP. Guess what he told us???? "You handed over the car willingly, so the police is not wrong. Why you trust this guy and hand over your car!"????? What?? We are selling a car and we don't hand the car over after the guy gave us the deposit and gave us papers to sign???? Now we know, we have to follow the guy to LTA and make sure he does the name transfer!! We went to a car agent for goodness sake! How we know this car agent cannot be trusted??? Maybe the police should give license to trustworthy people to sell cars! Only then will we common lay people know which car agent to go to to sell car!!!! Codst us over $28K paid over 5 years for a car we no longer owned or have. And still got to pay road tax even though no car on the road!!!
The police could have traced down the car-robber by examining the CCTV at traffic junctions, or at those gantries on ECP, CTE etc.
But they have no time! Their time are "better" spent robbing organs and challenging citizens to gun fights!
The problem is the police wasn't going to do anything because they say NO CRIME HAS BEEN COMMITTED!! The guy say will sell our car, make us sign forms and then never sell, never transfer name and disappeared with the car. Police say no crime! So we end up paying finance company and raod tax. I still cannot understand why a guy who disappeard with our car has committed no crime? Am I missing something here in our legal system?
In Singapore it is not a crime :
1. To beat up an innocent doctor having meal at the coffee shop;
2. To pay oneself millions of dollars for doing Fuck all
3. To rob human organ
4. etc etc
But it is a serious crime if you :
1. gather more than 4 people in silence protest
2. ask "where is our money?"
3. speak against the establishment
In Singapore, there are many many laws, but very little justice.
2007-03-24
收账公司若违法将受法办
谨答复《联合早报·交流站》于3月16日刊登的张良伟读者投函《收账公司太嚣张》:
关于张先生的投诉，警方一直与他保持着联系。
收债公司的执照并不是由警方发出。然而，如果发现这些机构违反法律，警方会毫不犹豫的进行调查和对它们采取必要的行动，就像对付任何违法的个人和公司一样。张先生报警后，也向推事庭报案，法官也指示张先生对收账公司采取民事诉讼。不过，张先生却选择撤消案件。后来，当张先生写信要求警方协助时，我们已警告收账公司不要再到张先生的家收账。
至于张先生的家门口被泼漆的事件，警方正在进行调查，也会通知张先生调查的结果。
新加坡警察总部
公共事务局助理局长（传媒联络）
汪汇玲
Police's reply confirms what the writer said: 警方正在进行调查 - We are STILL investigating!
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