Remember the brouhaha last year over a birthday ragging incident at elite Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC)? A birthday girl was dragged in the public canteen; had her hands tied to two basketball poles and tortured.
Singaporeans were divided in their opinion over the issue. There were some who chastised the perpetrators, slamming them for having fun at the expense of the birthday girl.
Others, like ACJC student, Javier Yeo defended his school’s ragging culture. “It’s fine. ACJC is part of a school of elite JCs in Singapore which are not meant for prudes anyway”, wrote Javier on his blog.
ACJC principal, Mrs Kelvyna Chan, responded to the incident with relative calm, stating that the school authorities knew about the ragging and had sent the students involved for counselling.
As the ACJC school motto goes: “The best is yet to be”.
Well, another set of ACJC ragging photos have surfaced on the Internet again. This time, a bunch of guys gang up to dump a birthday girl into a waste bin and wheeled her around in the school canteen to “parade” their victory.
Photos as below (via STOMP). The guy circled in red (from the original photo source, I did not single him out) is said to be the son of Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan:
From the photos, the girl looks quite happy… hence it’s really a case of young men and women having fun. Though if we were to ask me, I seriously don’t find it fun to have my friends dumped me into a waste bin for my birthday. I guess this is a unique ACJC culture that outsiders like me won’t be able to understand.
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Big Deal !
Kids will be kids and kids will be stupid.
It is obvious that everyone is having a good time. This is just sensationalism. If she were saying “no” it would be a totally different matter.
They shouldn’t have dumped her in a waste bin because it is unsanitary and maybe dangerous. There could have been a fork or something sharp in there. Lots of groups do these kinds of initiations, but what they do should not be dangerous and the process should be supervised by adults.
Oh dear. Another barrage of comments attacking ACJC culture is to come.
But then again, a lot of people hate ACS, what to do.. Maybe those who don’t really like ACS can share their reasons why? Then both sides can see what each other has to offer?
Just thought you might like to know that the poor girl who was ragged the last time was tied to chin-up poles, not basketball ones… I have no idea why I can even remember, but I just did and my perfectionist streak compels me to inform you.
I guess this is a unique ACJC culture that outsiders like me won’t be able to understand.
That line makes my blood boil.
People do stupid things everyday. Sure, what those kids did was dumb and distasteful. But having one or two incidents like this is not enough to brand this a “ACJC culture”.
Wait til’ the day when everyone or almost everyone in ACJC does something similar before calling it a culture.
Hi Veron,
Thanks for popping by. 🙂
From dictionary.com: definition of the word culture – “The predominating attitudes and behavior that characterize the functioning of a group or organization.”
Note the key term is “predominating”. Don’t need to be all, as long as that’s the widely perceived opinion.
From the ACJC’s principal’s reply as well as the various online discourse, it does give such an appearance la – at least to me. Then again, people are entitled to varying opinions like I stated right from the start of my blog entry. You don’t have to agree with me.
correct. alvin is wrong
*rolls eyes*
Firstly I think it’s misleading to call it “ragging”.
Secondly, I don’t understand the big deal, really. A oouple of kids horsing around and doing stupid shit. In school, I had my fair share of these experiences and have been both on the giving and receiving end.
Can you just give these kids some space to be kids?
No bullying, as far as I can see. (The “victim” was quite happy, yes?). No one got hurt. So??? Let them live their lives. Sure, you might think it’s stupid, but all those involved didn’t think like you. So, who are you to be policing them??
Would you like someone to come tell you how to walk, dress, eat and have fun???
Willing ‘victim’ willing ‘bully’ = not ragging. Usually these ‘bully’ will know who to choose as their ‘victim’. If you are not the sporting type, these ‘bullies’ will not celebrate your birthday the same way. Do you think the ‘victim’ will laugh if she is being bullied?
Just a bunch of crazy kids doing crazy things.
Let them have their fun.. and what has Vivian B’s son got to do with this whole issue? Let’s not politicise everything under the sun.
I remember my days in ACS with great nostalgia.. wouldn’t give it up for anything else.
Yeah why are you circling out Dr Balakrishnan’s son for special mention? Just cos he’s a minister’s son means he can’t do this or can’t do that?
goob:
Not I circle one lah…. The original picture was like that… I agree with you that it’s unnecessary to draw attention to him.
1 or 2 incidents by a minority do not characterise an entire student population. Hence, not a culture. “Widely perceived opinion”? I think not, judging from the comments on this post.
And of course, quoting dictionary definitions is always cute.
ha ha ha! How come ACJC again? This school always like that. not so surprising when see again.
This ACJC like si bei jia lat. I also want to go there have fun like the boys and throw girls into dustbin, tie them up and SM. I from non-elite JC but got some friends in ACJC too. They told me it is common to sit all these ragging shits in their school. Lagi best! Can see girls zaogeng.
GOODNESS! ACJC is NOT EVEN ELITE!
ACJC is NOT A top 5 JC.
It takes like what? 15 POINTS to get in?? Pathetic!
MrBlue,
I suppose grades aren’t everything one needs to succeed in life. A strong network helps too.
Wow lau…a future “minister” cleaning out the trash….training starts early for the elites
This post kinda stupid.
Maybe can submit to stomp.
To be fair, ACJC really isn’t an elite JC. This is coming from someone who went to both ACS (I) and spent a year in ACJC. Though I think you need 10 points to get into ACJC now. Still, I think ACJC’s got just enough spillover effect from the ACS family that it counts for something – at least when compared to the other JCs.
ACJC is school for all the rich brats.
I think Veron has crossed the line.
You’re an online personality and your comments were extremely rude.
Yes, we can all tell that Alvinology isn’t too fond of ACJC, but your snide comments shows a great deal of snobbishness and disdain.
If you were from ACJC and thus make these comments, it really does justify the stereotype that ACJCians are arrogant and think overly highly of themselves. (I mean, you can’t be THAT elite if your cut off is 10-15 right?) You’re not helping the school you’re trying to defend.
To provide some perspective on my stand, I think the ragging issue has been sensationalized. Every JC has some form of irrational behaviour. For goodness sake, they’re 17. What else should we expect?
MORE MORE MORE!!!!!!!!!!!
hahaha ACJC the best has yet to come.
Pretty amusing that elitism is correlated with grades.
FYI,
the cut-off point for ACJC is not 15 points. Neither is it 10 to 15 points. Not even close. Maybe when police still used to wear shorts it was but now its not.
The cut-off point for entry to ACJC is now 7-8 points. 7 points for Science and 8 points for Arts. It may still not be considered elite to some but at least its not as bad as mentioned above.
It’s typical Singaporean mentality.
Academic success = elite.
And this mentality is the reason why most of us (including Aiyo) aren’t elite.
That sort of mentality belongs in the trash heap. Never have subscribed to it anyway.
ASCI is elite but not ASJC
wrong again
This is your idea of freedom of speech? No wonder singapore can never progress with idiots like you
SERIOUSLY, whats the big deal, PLEASE, as if a birthday prank is not uncommon these days, and hello i can obviously tell no one bothered to really dig up the factual events of such an incident, i would like to say that firstly, the girls friends brought her clothes to bathe and change into so she wouldnt be uncomfortable, secondly, such pranks arent limited to acjc alone, the only people who are naive enough to think that only acjc students engage in such activities are the people who well, didnt do well enough to get into a jc, and so if you dont know anything, dont talk about it, hence the saying, its better that people think you are stupid then for them to know you are stupid. if you really think a top school named after one of the pioneers of singapore is really innocent of such pranks, i would welcome you to go over to that school and camp out and observe with wide eyed wonder.
also, acjc is in fact an elite school. 15 points and you want to get in? HAH wake up. 15 points you go to jurong jc or meridian jc. you want to get into acjc, get 7-8 points. for your info, that 7-8 is taken from 6 subjects and if you also DIDNT know, grades are ranked by A1, A2, B3, B4 and so on, so do the math and see how smart these ac kids are.
and well, ac is a school with a heritage so rich, a name so powerful, that even overseas people know and have heard of acs. i would say, that acs have an impressive alumni body of people in high places in society, businessmen, politicians, celebrities. so yeah well, say what you want about this school and its culture, because one comment on the net does not erase everything else about the school that has captivated the hearts and impacted the lives of so many
people. To God be the Glory, the Best is yet to Be
If it’s not sure a BIG deal, then why is everyone of you protesting against Alvin’s posts? Just leave it.
This incident happened, so it is a fact. And everyone has a different opinion about this incident, this is just one from Alvin. If you like, you can always have you own blog post and comment however you like. Defending it, whatsoever.
“I guess this is a unique ACJC culture that outsiders like me won’t be able to understand.”
Did he bring ACJC down, for goodness sake? First part was from Stomp, if I’m not wrong. Then all he said was, “outsiders like me won’t be able to understand”. That’s all, how unkind/rude was he?
Why not you find the person who uploaded those photos to Stomp, circling out the son, and while also a student of ACJC. That indeed reflects alot on the education of ACJC. Good or bad, you decide.
My mistake.
First part might not be from Stomp, then again, I don’t see any bringing down.
Thanks Jing. 🙂
I’m 27 and in the Army and I’ve been promoted plenty of times so I know the rigors of hazing. The way I see it is, horsing around, all well and good, but when someone says stop that’s when things should end. If I were the one of the people responsible for either of these incidents, I’d hope I never see that girl when I was alone, because payback is tenfold and its a bitch.
Acjc students just plainy believe they are richer and of ‘higher class’ then any other student from the different instituitons in Singapore. Just because the Anglo-Chinese group of schools has a long history and has many different campuses not just in singapre but overseas, they think they are very great and respected. Acjc might be considered an elite school by some but I’m sure many out there will disagree. In fact, I believe Acjc ain’t an elite school. To support what I said about arrogance in AC students, do you find HCI, NJ, RJ students coming out to praise themselves claiming themselves to be from an elite school? This is in reply to that Ac guy whom alvin talked about in the previous post about the acjc girl who was ragged too.
By christie:
“SERIOUSLY, whats the big deal, PLEASE, as if a birthday prank is not uncommon these days, and hello i can obviously tell no one bothered to really dig up the factual events of such an incident, i would like to say that firstly, the girls friends brought her clothes to bathe and change into so she wouldnt be uncomfortable, secondly, such pranks arent limited to acjc alone, the only people who are naive enough to think that only acjc students engage in such activities are the people who well, didnt do well enough to get into a jc, and so if you dont know anything, dont talk about it, hence the saying, its better that people think you are stupid then for them to know you are stupid. if you really think a top school named after one of the pioneers of singapore is really innocent of such pranks, i would welcome you to go over to that school and camp out and observe with wide eyed wonder.
also, acjc is in fact an elite school. 15 points and you want to get in? HAH wake up. 15 points you go to jurong jc or meridian jc. you want to get into acjc, get 7-8 points. for your info, that 7-8 is taken from 6 subjects and if you also DIDNT know, grades are ranked by A1, A2, B3, B4 and so on, so do the math and see how smart these ac kids are.
and well, ac is a school with a heritage so rich, a name so powerful, that even overseas people know and have heard of acs. i would say, that acs have an impressive alumni body of people in high places in society, businessmen, politicians, celebrities. so yeah well, say what you want about this school and its culture, because one comment on the net does not erase everything else about the school that has captivated the hearts and impacted the lives of so many”
Excuse me, you’ve forgotten that concessions to a student’s L1R5 score in the O-Level examinations exist. To get into ACJC, a student only needs to obtain 7-8 points AFTER deducting 4 points for stuff such as obtaining a good CCA grade, affiliation with ACJC and passing HMT. If you want to have a taste of what’s “elite”, consider applying for HCI or RJC instead. Some students who have a perfect L1R5 of 6 points before taking concessions into consideration can’t even qualify for these premier institutions!
The only reason why some people cling on to the idea of ACJC being an “elite” institution, when in fact, it is nowhere near that ideal (if being “elite” is defined as being academically superior), is because most of the people studying there come from wealthy families; and they belong to the upper stratum of Singapore society. Being financially sound doesn’t necessarily translate into academic genius.
Even though I agree with you that raggings and birthday bashes are not exclusive to ACJC, I would urge you to get your facts right before you classify ACJC as a top notch institution, because it pales in comparison with that of RJC and HCI.
so many netizens are paying attention to ACJC… I’m so proud….
It’s best that we understand that every person has different opinions, that is why we are human. So instead of arguing against one another, why can’t we just accept the difference and get along? We only have one earth to share, anyway…
Its not true that all ACJC students think they are rich. Thats stereotyping. In fact, i believe most people who accuse “elite” school students of being snobbish are jealous of them for being more successful. If not, then why accuse them of being too proud? If you know you’re better then them, why dont you save your breath and let your grades/qualifications do the talking? Some non-elite school students also do well academically and eventually do well later in life and it shows that it really doesnt matter which school you study in.
Nonetheless, i think that Alvin along with several other people who have commented on this post are sore about people who come from ACS or elite schools for that matter. Well guys if you ARE/WERE successful you wouldnt be so sore about this matter isnt it?
About the kids.. well they are childish and they should be more mature at 17. And taking advantage of such a situation just to attack the school’s image is childish too, in my opinion.
Indeed…. I am a sore loser.
For those that do NOT understand the AC culture, just keep the comments to yourself. It would NOT seem very nice to pick on other college and give FALSE information ie:
MrBlue (04:47:16) :
GOODNESS! ACJC is NOT EVEN ELITE!
ACJC is NOT A top 5 JC.
It takes like what? 15 POINTS to get in?? Pathetic!
Please get your FACTS and do the HOMEWORK before you try to create a big hoo- ha about this incident. It is L1R5 7 for science stream and 8 for arts. Do some calculations and you will know how difficult it is to get in. Even if AC is not in the ranking of to 5 jcs, it is considered an elite college for a majority. Or probably our MRBlue here is about say, 50 to 60 yrs old and NOT UPDATED about the cop for ACJC and trying to perceive a facade that he IS updated or flaming the college’s reputation. WAKE UP. Its the year 2010, not 1910.
Regarding this issue, the female protaganist in the bin looks happy. This shows that they ARE playing around and she IS okay with it, judging the smile on her face. Next thing that I want to point out is the emphasis on a minister’s son. PLEASE, everyone has their playful moments. Let this kid have a good childhood. Do not ostracise him as he is a minister’s son.
For those that have seriouse objection against this waste bin incident, i URGE u all to NOT be so against it. It is the new generation of being ‘pranked’ on a birthday in substitution of a birthday bash. Who knows there might be a birthday cake and her friends helped her out of the bin and the celebration continues? Those are NOT caught on camera. So do NOT judge a book by its cover, event on its photos.
For ACSIANS in the house, the best is yet to be.
cheers.
Guys, please. Speaking as an ACSian, stop stereotyping us. Just because you met one “bad” ACSian dosen’t mean the whole school is bad. And about all this cr*p about “rich and snobby brats”. Take a look around. It’s obvious you guys don’t know that we have financially-assisted students who only bring $3 a day to school. And haven’t you seen the hundreds of ACSians at Dover and Buona Vista taking public transport because they can’t afford cars? And would YOU like it if I met students from YOUR school and they were “pai kias” then I stereotype your school as being bad, gangster-like etc? Obviously not.
So please, I plead that you stop stereotyping us and move on with your own lives.
Agreed, truly, The Best Is Yet To Be!
Peace.
I THINK I BETTER FUKING CHANGE SCHOOL FAST
Be it ragging or not, humiliation or not. These actions, i can only relate them to primary school kids who are very self-centered. Whether is it for the birthday kid or not, they are behaving like primary school kids, in an older body, maybe.
I like fun too, and i seriously want to experience such child-likeness again even when i’m in my mid 20s now. I’d love to get whacked and be played around like this (i.e. being dumped into dustbin and rolled all over) At most i just get dirty, but i will confirm chop enjoy such stupid fun with my friends.
But on top of this, we must also think that all these things has to be done with all due respect to everyone else. Not just to your friends, but also your friends’ parents, school’s reputation, your principal’s name and many other things that may have linked to this. what if someone gets hurt through this rowdy incident? are we sure that the parents do not blame the teachers and principals? are we willing to shoulder such responsibility, be it physically or maybe, emotionally for some people who cannot take it?
final note:
when we play, we have to think of the consequences. As fun as it may be (which i totally agree), there must be a certain level of maturity that we, as public will want to see in a typical JC student. (don’t bother whether is it from AC or not) Not only so, with these fun, we have to make sure that everyone will be happy, and people who sees this can see our enjoyment and be happy abt it too. Try to imagine your own daughter being thrashed up like that in such a nice looking uniform. And guess what, you are the one washing the uniform that your daughter brought back… done by who? her friends.
So lemme ask those people that do the ragging:
1. did you ensure that your friends are safe?
2. did you prepare a new set of uniform, with soap and shampoo to change out after the ragging?
3. have you seek teachers’ permission so that you got your ass covered?
4. do you know that by uploading to the net, u are humiliating the student publicly because the rest of the world don’t understand your ‘culture’?
As a youth turning into adulthood, we have to be accountable for our own actions. Who says playing is not allowed? it is! but is the aftermath taken care of? are you maintaining this fun and play like a child, and yet thinking like an adult and behave like one too?
For those people, not just in AC, think about it. Is it really worth the while going through that extra mile to thrash your friends, and then try 100x, 1000x more effort to explain to the rest of singapore what you have done?
(sorry for bad english, its 3am in the morn i can’t process my words well.)
who cares what they do as long as they don’t disturb me its fine i am there to study and go for A levels if they disrupt my school life i would just kick their arse
To those people who say this ragging is unique and good culture of ACJC. Well.if you got child in ACJC and those students stuff shit into your child’s mouth and pee over the clothing on the birthday I’m sure you will be very satisfied because your child will have a unforgettable memorable experience in the life. How about shooting whip cream into the anus instead of the face, since it would be boring right?
Anyway the girl in the pic has nice tanned thighs the guys must be enjoying grabbing her tight smooth thighs and maybe a brush against her fresh, sweet pussy. Or maybe a consensual sex with her afterwards if you are lucky.
Well not surprising since you guys are sado-masochistic people who like orgies after yout prom night anyway.
I would never let my child go near acjc , who knows who disaster may be awaiting for her
wrong, i am enjoying. i am your daughter to god be the glory the best is yet tobe