Jeremy Hunt raised Ye Ming Yuen’s case with Singapore’s minister for foreign affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, while visiting the country last week, and since then Foreign Office officials have made representations on Yuen’s behalf.
‘I was misled in my youth, in an environment surrounded by drugs, to fall into the dark lure of addiction, oblivious to the hold it had on me.’ Before moving to Singapore in 2007, Yuen – the son of a marketing consultant from China and a Singapore-born marketing executive – was a pupil at Dulwich Prep School in South London and then Westminster School, whose alumni include Nick Clegg, Peter Ustinov and John Gielgud.
At Westminster School he ‘got in with the wrong crowd’ and ended up in trouble with the Metropolitan Police.
In 2007, it emerged that Yuen was wanted by Scotland Yard over an alleged forged driving licences scam. A newspaper tracked him down to Singapore, where he reportedly admitted that he manufactured fake documents and sold them to pupils.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: ‘Our consular staff have been assisting a British man and his family since his arrest in Singapore in 2016. We strongly oppose the use of corporal punishment, such as caning, in all cases.’
A spokesman for the Singapore High Commission in London said: ‘Singapore deals with the drug problem comprehensively with the strictest enforcement coupled with the severest of penalties to protect the welfare of the public and our collective aspiration to live and raise our children in a safe oasis.’
Cpl Carrott, Somerset, United Kingdom,
Surely, He went to that country knowing their use of corporal punishment. He broke the laws in their country and now we’re supposed to tell them to let him go? The old saying just about fits here… “If you can’t do the time, Don’t do the crime!”
i am outta here, EUSSR,
Excuses, excuses excuses. Background, wealth and a superior education should not make you immune from the law. You knew the game and the risks of losing so accept it. If we had more discipline like this in the west, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in now with gangs, stabbings and shootings all over drugs in our towns and cities. Can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.
Pressacian, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong,
I’m with Singapore on this one. The ‘strokes’ are only administered whilst conscious, most pass out after three and are deemed unfit to receive the rest at that time. Two days to recover in the infirmary then 3 more; this smart lad could have 8 to 10 sessions over 3 weeks, but it’s still better that hanging. Stay out of their business and keep the trade deals lined up.
dr.strange, Paradise, Palau,
Lived in Singapore for many years and as much as I enjoyed cannabis, coming from a country where it is legal to use, I never attempted. Obey laws or face punishment. Should have learned and known better. No pity for him.
Frustrated57, Oxford, United Kingdom,
He knew the risk, he played the game and lost. Now he asks for clemency with a statement that sounds typically entitled and privileged, blaming others for being led astray. We may think it’s barbaric but he knew the outcome if he broke the law and was caught. Suck it up!
kerria, Scarborough, United Kingdom,
The laws in Singapore are very strict. That is why it’s clean,safe,and crime free. We should try being so strict.
GW: This person is very privileged & often this class of person thinks it can do whatever it likes wherever it likes. Pity that a very expensive education appears to have been wasted on him.
ukgovernmentwatch 