Then two detainees at the Subordinate Courts lock-up beat up the police officer supervising them and made an escape bid, also in broad daylight.
And now, a 61-year-old retiree breaks through all the security measures at Changi Airport - without even meaning to.
ST June 24, 2008You know what will happen next, don't you? The Little People will be punished again. You know, the Cisco guard, the lady at the airport check-in counter, and so on.
Dad flies off using son's passport
He checks in at Changi, clears immigration and gets on Tiger Airways jet to Vietnam
By Carolyn Quek
IN HIS hurry to catch a flight at Changi Airport's Budget Terminal yesterday morning, retiree Ang Heng Soon, 61, grabbed the wrong passport and left home.
He took his 39-year-old son's passport. They had left their passports on the dining table, because the son was also flying from Changi Airport.
The father's mistake, and how he cleared all security checks at the airport and flew to Vietnam, led to a long day for both.
Even with the wrong passport, Mr Ang first checked in at the Tiger Airways counter for his flight to Ho Chi Minh City, where he was headed for a six-day holiday.
He next got past the security check by Certis Cisco officers at the entrance to the restricted passenger area.
Then he ran into problems, failing repeatedly to scan his fingerprint at the immigration Automated Clearance System.
Noticing his difficulty, an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officer directed him to a lane for manual clearance.
There, an officer cleared him to leave Singapore, and he boarded his plane.
Mr Ang told The Straits Times he realised his mistake only during the flight.
The good minister Wong Kan Seng will strut around, point his finger and say, "Tsk tsk ... you so naughty ... you so negligent ... your pay is docked ... you are sacked ..." and then he will probably look at the TV camera and say, "Lee Kuan Yew was right - you Singaporeans are too complacent."
Someone might quietly suggest that in view of all these security lapses, perhaps the Home Affairs Minister is not doing his job very well and should resign. Whereupon Wong Kan Seng's eyes will widen slightly in surprise.
And then he'll say: "Ooh, I am sorry that this has happened. But in Singapore, sacrificing the minister for political expediency is just not right. I am very highly talented, you know. I must be - otherwise why would you be paying me a world-class salary? It will be a tragic loss for Singapore if I were to quit."