How about that, a shop owner selling spices and condiments at Yishun, abiding by the kampong spirit of helping one another, decided not to report someone who stole from him?
That was the choice that Jeya Seelan, 31, had made. And it all started on 3 June. When he was away on a course, and two of his assistants were not watching, the stall customer walked over and swiped away about $800 cash visibly placed in a plastic box.
That person was caught on camera. His face and identity were exposed. Yet, Jeya chose an unusual road. He did not lodge a police report. The neighbourhood police post was not mobilised.
He blurred the identity of the customer who took the money and posted it on Facebook. He didn’t want to tarnish the man’s reputation. He only wanted him to return the money.
He said: “It was just heartbreaking and shocking. If you think about all the hard work that went into earning that money, and one guy suddenly comes in to steal it in a flash, it’s devastating.”
Facebook justice worked swiftly. One day later, on 4 June, “a friend of the man who took the money sent Mr Jeya a text message at about 6pm. The next day, he came with the thief to return the money.”
Jeya said: “We like to say “bila bila Yishun”, which means “Yishun forever” in Malay. We have a spirit of helping one another. People say the kampong spirit is dying but I don’t believe that’s true.””
Lesson? Well, thinking aloud, do you call that the kampong-spirit-styled justice at work? Does it stop there? Is it consistent with our modern day justice/enforcement system based on the 4 sentencing principles of retribution, prevention, deterrence and rehabilitation?
Here are more questions: Did the man learn his lesson? Is he remorseful? Will he re-offend? Will Jeya’s kampong spirit-styled justice deter future acts of theft? How will AGC and the SPF view this development, because $800 dollars is no small sum?
Will there be a floodgate of such dispensation of justice carried out under one’s own hands? And for lawyers mitigating for their clients who have pleaded guilty to theft, what role, if any, does this unusual case play in their representation? Does this count as their first offence?
I have more questions, but I resist being a smart-Alec about it, because I personally think justice in our strictly rule-based society has taken an unexpected detour for this case - at least for now. And it ought to be a good General-Paper-like discussion for A-level students in JCs.
Mind you, Jeya’s angelic act in the spirit of kampong togetherness may warm the hearts of many in Yishun, others who read it, and myself included, but I suspect not all will share this kampong-spirit styled justice, especially those who had served time for relatively minor offences, for example, negligent driving.
For them, and many others, where is the kampong spirit when they were charged and sentenced to serve a short jail time over a largely uncharacteristic, momentary lapse of judgment?
Still, kudos to Jeya, for he has shown communal mercy. And ironically the way mercy is shown cannot be done apart from exposing the crime on some social media platform, and now on ST and well, my Monday morning reflection.
Complete anonymity would not work at all, because at most times, our conscience requires god-like surveillance in the form of video recording effectively brought to the culprit’s attention (and risks bringing the same to the attention of public authority at large) for him to come to its senses.
And let’s bear in mind that this is not a case where the man who stole suddenly had a road-to-Damascus experience the day after, and that led him to give up the cash. In this particular case, as Jeya puts it so nobly, the kampong spirit is not dead, and that is the truth. Jeya exemplified it well. It’s justice meted out by dint of pure compassion, when the game is up.
For now, I too wonder, how will the law enforcers exemplify it? More importantly, how will society at large and the man who stole exemplify that same Kampong spirit? For having been shown grace, will the person who had stolen pays it forward by self-reform and demonstrating grace in return to others too?
Alas, a small pebble of kindness thrown into a pond can create a ripple effect that compels society as a whole to confront their views/conviction about the criminal justice system, or about a balancing between crime and punishment, but with a human touch to it.
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