Remember the couple who were caught walking down Holland Village naked during the Chinese New Year period?
Their identities have been revealed as the two of them were charged today. Here’s the news report via Straits Times.com:
Nude couple charged
By Elena Chong
April 9, 2009
A COUPLE who caused a stir by strolling down naked along Lorong Mambong earlier this year were charged in court on Thursday.
Jan Philip, 21, a Swedish student on exchange programme, and Eng Kai Er, 24, a university student in Sweden, are accused of appearing nude in public at Holland Village at about 11pm on Jan 24.
Both were clad in black suits when they appeared before District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan.
Their lawyer, Mr William Chan, asked for an adjournment to write in to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
If convicted, both may be fined up to $2,000 and/or jailed for up to three months.
As Philip is a foreigner, he was offered bail of $5,000 but Eng, a Singaporean, need not post bail. Philip’s passport was impounded.
They will be back in court on April 30.
Initially, I had the perception that both of the nudists were foreigners. Hence I was quite surprised to find out the lady, Ms Eng Kai Er is actually a Singaporean.
What’s even more shocking…
A simple googling of her name brings me to a page featuring a 2007 list of A*STAR National Science Scholars!
There’s a girl by the same name who was awarded with an A*STAR scholarship to study in Karolinska Institutet in Sweden:
The charged Eng Kai Er was described as a Singaporean studying in Sweden via the Straits Times.com news report…
Putting two and two together. She should be the same person hor? Anyone can verify?
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Hmm… so this is what our scholars learnt from their expensive overseas education? How to run around naked without feeling embarrassed?
what’s to be ashamed about the naked body?
I think most of you got the girl’s attitude wrong. At least she is more open minded after studying abroad and particularly being exposed to swedish culture of nudity. So being open to nudity is not a crime. What is a crime is to walk nude in Singapore lah.
this type of hairstyle apply for scholarship can get meh!!!!
i think singaporeans are all dumb, stupid
. even such a thing can also make it to news. lol
She must be a fan of Annabelle Chong who was from Hwa Chong too.
Btw, why she show her fanny then but cover her face now?
wah she damn ugly no wonder must take off clothes so people will look at her
They obviously do not teach morality at A*Star.
Although Eng Kai Er is a A*Star scholar but such a discriminated Chinese Singapore Citizen who never think consequence about the Singapore Chinese Community & about her parents feeling who have raise her up until she get a spot at the A*Star. I would like to suggest the Singapore Chinese Citizen sent a petition letter to the judge who dealing the case should sent her & the ang moh to jail or IMH for maximum 2 yrs & a fine of $10,000 & the A*Star management should revoked the scholarship that was given to her. No Bargain & No Question Ask.
How can A*star scholar do such silly act ? She must have good reason to do so , Protest on environmental issue? Human right ?? Or what.
If no good reason, they should send to jail at least for a nite.
It is not worth to sent them to jail for a nite & it much more better sent them to jail or IMH for maximum 2 yrs & a fine of $10,000 & the A*Star management should revoked the scholarship that was given to her. No Bargain & No Question Ask.
How odd…daring to bare your ass in Holland V but being so shy in front of the press….if dare to do then face the consequences la…
Remember last time 2 NUS students got expelled from their hostel for streaking in the wee hours of the morning? Now we’re talking about (NUS students also) brazenly walking down a crowded street…Hmm I wonder whether A*Star will be taking disciplinary action against her…
That is why i want the Singapore Chinese Community to sign a petition letter to the Judge so that the Judge can sent both of them to jail maybe Eng Kai Er to Changi Prison for Mens & the ang moh should sent to Woman Changi Prison. The A*Star Management should revoked the scholarship for Eng Kai Er. I would like to suggets that all the governments bodies should screen the scholars before gave them the scholarship
Well, Eng Kai Er is perhaps an ‘ang moh’ trappped in the body of an Asian – I never thought much of SPGs anyway – why the regret and shying away from media now when you have the audacity to run around naked publicly in the first place? Don’t forget you are in SG, not europe – respect our home culture here. Don’t tarnish the reputation of HCJC girls, we are making headlines for the wrong reasons. Perform your acts in secret, i’m sure NUS Eusoff hall has rooms for you. i had a great naughty time there during my undergrad days and the world still thinks i’m a goodie good girl now :p
Having said that, one should be objective as morals and her intellect are 2 separate issues. Her scholarship is recognition for her brains and academic performance, whilst her act should not cast scholars under a negative light. Scholars should be judged based on their performance and contribution at work, not by their personal lifestyle. Henceforth, It will be regrettable if A*STAR dishes out punishment to her.
Now she covers her face!
lol, what happened to the smarties’ IQ in singapore?
i think A-Star should stop the scholarship
What’s the big deal… why criminalize and victimize her for her belief. Perhaps she should have thought it through first in doing what shebelieves in, being in Singapore – such a hypocritical society.
A*Star should REVOKED the scholarship from the scholar no quenstion ask.
Ladies & Gentleman don’t forget about the person who is very damn proud of his own brother that would be Jan Philip who critics our country law & order. If he or she found to be here you all know what to do ok.
aiya, this is not a moral but a brain issue. smart but never use brain. thought all singaporeans think like europeans, and completely forgot about the existence of aunties and uncles who have never left sg before.
even in the USA things like this can get you into a bit of trouble. think the whole world is as liberal as europe meh…
Maybe she should migrate to usa if she want to be nude all day at any time
Hi Soojenn,
Would you care to explain how it is that Singapore is hypocritical for prosecuting Ms. Eng?
Hypocritical mean she doesn’t have the feeling or principles that she claim to have. It mean before she was caught by the police she feel proud to go naked infront of the public but after been charged by the district judge she feel ashamed of herself for the short period of time only.
Well. Let those with no sin cast the first stone.
We all make mistakes. Granted, this makes news, in our tiny little unforgiving Singapore.
Let’s grow up and moved on. She’s suffered enough.
Hardly a piece of investigative journalism considering that the TNP article on the matter specifically mentioned that she was an A*STAR scholar at Karolinska. So it’s not as if the MSM are trying to cover up this fact.
i believe you sir, have just hit gold.
ketsugi: Note the date of this blog entry and the date of the TNP article. I can’t confirm the identity as I am not a journalist, but I guess TNP and the other media managed to the next day.
Sufiano:
What’s this to do with Chinese or not? I think it should be you instead, on behalf of the Singaporean Idiot Community, to write the petition letter for her not thinking about the Singaporean Idiot Community and your feelings as a fellow idiot. No bargain! Fixed price only!
Hey stupid bunnit if u are a foreigner pls have some respect to the SINGAPOREAN ok.
Hello Mr X.
I don’t suppose you even bothered to read Sufiano’s comments. I personally can’t be bothered with whatever the hell Eng Kai Er wants to wear, or not wear. Sufiano is obviously very bothered, and hot under the collar, but his response is completely bizarre: the Singaporean Chinese community is supposed to act? What’s with his racism?
If you didn’t see that, then your haste to call me stupid is a bit uncalled for. If you did see that, and still can’t understand, then it’s definitely a case of the pot calling the (electric) kettle black.
Someone is wrong on the internet, wee!, isn’t it fun!
chinese malay indian so what still singaporean right?
rachel (13:46:17) :
chinese malay indian so what still singaporean right? Not including Ang Moh
Ang moh get Singaporean citizenship is Singaporean or not??
Ang Moh who 1 2 b come the citizen of singapore is permanent resident before they get the official letter from the government
So get official letter already is Singaporean or not??
After u get the official letter then u have 2 attend a ceremony at a location stated inside the letter n after the ceremony then u are officially a citizen of singapore
chinese malay indian so what still singaporean right? Not including Ang Moh
So can include ang moh too lar? If they get official letter, and attend ceremony hor?
To Tan Ah Beng,
So this is what a chau ah beng comment is. Very ah beng!!
To xxx,
Well, are you a scholarship holder? What type of hairstyle you have? Luckily A*Star hasn’t got a brain like you!
To Ah Lian,
Wah!! You know about Annabelle Chong??! Then you are not so innocent after all!! I don’t think she is ashame of her body or face. It is people like you who probably unable to accept your own body and beauty!!
To Andrew,
What is morality?? What has it got to do with A*Star?? Would you blame your parent if your girlfriend refuse to have sex with you? Same logic!! Think about it!!??
To Jacob,
You very good looking meh??! What determines ugly or pretty?? There is no point being pretty but all rotten inside. She is proud of herself and her own body. Are you?? We all should!
To Anonymous,
I would like to answer on Soojenn’s behalf if she doesn’t mind. She said hypocritical society, not hypocritical in prosecuting Ms Eng. Singapore is not hypocritical for prosecuting (as they have yet to be prosecute). It is the Singaporean(I’m noy saying all) or maybe should I say those non-chinese (ie. Sufiano) that are hypocritical!1 Get it?!!
Sufiano, Sufiano,
Someone already asked…. why did you keep on going about “Chinese Singapore Citizen” and not Singaporean? Are you pure Singaporean? Philipino? Indonesian? I believe you are somehow not ‘pure’ in nationality, and obviously not pro-Chinese. You better careful with what you said or write. Discrimination is also a serious criminal offence in Singapore. And you are refering to us…the Chinese Singapore Community of Singapore. Why are you so angry about this case? I can’t help it but sense that you have so much anger and cold.
And what do you mean by suggesting to the government bodies to screen the scholars before giving scholarship? Do you think anyone can be scholar? Without their own hardwork? Do you think Singapore government need you, a non-chinese or maybe an outsider (non-Singaporean) to teach and tell them what to do? MM Lee knows what’s going on. He is ace!
Do you really think that people will migrate to US just so that they can be nude all day??! This comment came from you. So unbelievable!!
I think you also got the wrong message as Anonymous. Is English your first language??
I am a pure Singaporean who is of Chinese race. I am just so disappointed with most of the comments that I have read. How about the compassionate that we have in us? Are they all gone? All human have feelings and compassionate. It’s just how strong or deep it is. It is very sad to see that Singapore have such a shallow sense of understanding and open mind to this topic. We don’t know why Ms Eng and that Swedish guy did it. We don’t her at all. How can people like most of you assume and put her down so much? Do you all really look down on her? or are some of you actually curious about her action and life, and especially her as a scholar with such an incredible past and promising future? I just hope that her future will not be tainted by what the people think of her. I am sure she regret what she has done and will suffer the punishment she deserves thru the court. I hope that the public can be more understanding and will leave her alone. Furthermore, she might be the one who help the breakthrough of many infection biology in the future.
I think going around nude is all right if it were the Stone Age or something, but even back then they had fur coats, and knew it just wasn’t, just wasn’t very right to be walking around with their privates exposed in front of other people. Hey, even those peoples in certain tribes in the world today who walk around without clothes don’t need to be told they’re naked– they know they are. The very fact that they know they’re naked means something. If they do not know they’re naked, then perhaps it can be allowed that nakedness is only taught. Infants might not know they’re naked, but from the pics and stories I hear of these two chatting up strangers and being totally aware of their nakedness I cannot believe that it was all a sweet, innocent act. And did they not think that there might have been children around? I think that any child who saw them naked probably became very upset after the initial curiosity. Children would be thinking, ‘What are these two adults doing without clothes outdoors? Why is it that they are being allowed by everyone else to be without clothes? What is happening?
C just human ni ckp mcm btl aje
Mr X,
Sorry if I’m rude, I don’t understand your language. Can you respond in English? Thanks.
To Angel-in-disguise
At last, I have someone who share the same view as me. Thank you!! I thought I am the weird and only one. At least we uses our brain, not just the eyes and ears and the illusion that some of the people do. THANK GOD!!!
sigh.. the culture gap is too wide liao lah. this girl think she can change the mentality of singapore in one night of streaking meh? the first time i saw a nude beach in italy i was quite shocked at first. but it opened me up to other people’s different culture and freedom of expression. 2 of my cousins went to spain and they got naked together at a nude beach. they said they were shy at first, but quickly realised no one cared and they came back with an unique experience. thats something that no singaporean will ever understand without going far overseas. in uni here in vancouver a dude dressed up as Borat and ran around school in a thong during halloween. everyone had a good laugh. it was a victimless joke, unless that guy was the victim lol. anyways, many laws in singapore are written to reflect its conservatism and culture. in terms of morality, since no one was hurt, they should only get at most a warning and sent away.
i smell trolls in this thread.. dont feed the trolls!
“An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.”
I would love to see more A*STAR scholars running around naked.
Nice to see some people with a decent sense of what is moral and not. Clearly walking naked through Holland Village is pretty stupid considering they both have been here long enough to know pretty much anything out of the ordinary is illegal here, but nudity is not immoral per say. Apart from some people being offended, because of their cultural background, nobody was actually hurt, and at most they should be fined a symbolic amount to deter them from doing it again. $5000 in bail + $2000 in fine is just ridiculous, and talk of punishing them for the rest of their lives (at least her) by revoking her scholarship is just malicious. I know of PhD’s in Singapore not really being worthy of their scholarship because they aren’t good enough researchers, start revoking those instead!
I do believe in respecting local tradition and culture, but there should be some humanity and compassion to allow people to do stupid stuff once in a while without ruining their lives…
She Juz get a FINE instead a JAIL term
When in Rome, do what the Roman do… well, such a simple term, however, have a great meaning; which means do try to blend in and respect the locals (not to offend them). For foreigners traveling abroad, or Singaporean travel going overseas, they are ambassador for their countries. The Swede involved definitely does not respect our Asian culture, or Singapore society. What’s more alarming is having a local Singaporean gaming to join in, instead of advising him otherwise and on our local cultures.
Why the association between AStar and the students, or highlight the relevance that the culprit on AStar scholarship? Simple… it’s about responsibility and accountability for our action. Even if someone that may not be as smart as her or a lowly educated person, doesn’t understand the law, they will be able to comprehend and distinguish between what’s right and wrong. These may be due to our up bring to be respect our diversified culture? Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know understand these…
So the question is, does the fault lies on parent’s failure on her upbringing to respect other? or is it due to the (bad) Western influence in having her forget her Asian roots? or she thinks she’s an ang moh liao since she spent a few year there? or she thinks it’s cool (like mardi gras) and can get away.
Well, only she knows the answer.. Unfortunately, that information is not revealed in the media, nor does it indicated if she regrets or feeling remorse for her action. For all we know, she might be cursing Singapore(ans) for not being open enough like majority of western countries. Just wondering, if she ever been nude in places she visited in Western countries? Also wondering if she didn’t get the scholarship and didn’t pursue her studies overseas, instead going to NUS. Will she behave the way she do and be overly liberal in her beliefs?
Sufiano should probably move to some place where it’s easier to repress/spank women that get out of line (I hear the Taliban are recruiting!).
Aside from that, you cannot honestly be surprised that something like this could happen in *gasp* Singapore.
The country’s management is pushing very hard to make it cosmopolitan and an internationally attractive destination, not just for tourists, but also for people that might be enticed to live here permanently. That kind of progressive thinking doesn’t mix well with social conservatism, especially if part of your target audience comes from Europe/Australia. Even the US majority seems to be trending away from social conservatism, or at least it’s becoming more effective in isolating the very vocal right wing.
The really shocking aspect of the incident isn’t the incident itself but the vociferous, and sometimes highly malicious, reactions that ensued. I’ve looked at various fora that discussed this incident and this seems to be one of the more civilized ones. In others I saw her labeled an “ang mo whore”, some guy said that she should be punished by making her an NS “comfort girl”, etc.
If I were a singaporean, I’d be far more embarrassed by people spewing such extreme hatred and ignorance than two people going out on a misguided nude walk.
what a legend..
i love these people
they shouldnt have done it sure, its singapore, they know the rules
but just relax.. they didnt do anything that bad… just fine them to deter them and leave them be?
Sufiano Alfiano
You all need to chill out…
Interesting at the outrage at some less than-fit individual-running around naked. While prostitution and gambling are LEGAL in Singapore, everyone has a cow because two naked people decide to risk making fools of themselves. I would say, laugh it off and worry about other things. I certainly won’t go around naked, with my flab and beer-belly, I might scare to death some elderly granny. Though, I think that it is incredibly prudish and hypocritical to castigage others who are just out for laughs or to make a social statement.
Haven’t heard about Ms Eng for quite some time, I feared the worst has happened to her, that she had left this land for good. Her family might have had sold their house to pay back her bond just like the case of Jonathan Wong. However, she’s recently back on the news again, this time performing a dance in Substation (but not in the nude).. She will be back working for astar, maybe one day finding the cure for the syndrome of involuntarily stripping off all clothes and streaking on the street, just joking!