The naughty RSM: Teo Chye Siong from 6 SIR

What is your image of a Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) in the army?

It will be that of a tough looking, no-nonsense encik right? One who will tell you to ‘knock it down’ when you do something wrong and ‘wake up your idea’ when you are not focused.

Someone like this:

Teo Chye Siong, now 44, was a RSM at the 6th Singapore Infantry Regiment (6 SIR) until he was kicked out of the Singapore Army for being naughty with a girl as young as his own children. He will be spending 10 months in jail for being a dirty old man, preying on a 14-year-old girl he became friends with in May 2014 on Facebook.

Via a report from StraitsTimes.com:

He soon started to inject sexual content into their conversations.

At about 4pm on a Thursday later the same month, Teo, a former regimental sergeant major with the 6th Battalion, Singapore Infantry Regiment, met her at her void deck.

He drove her in his car to Changi Beach, where they sat on a bench facing the sea.

He violated her with his finger for at least five minutes, the court heard.

Later the same day, he dove her to Pasir Ris Park and told her to perform a sex act on him, while in his car.

She complied for a few minutes.

“After Teo and the victim parted ways, Teo continued to chat with the victim on Facebook about having sex with her,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kavita Uthrapathy.

In calling for a stiff sentence, the DPP noted that Teo’s own children were around the same age as the victim.

Teo had, moreover, known that she was a minor, but continued to send her lewd messages on Facebook about having sex with her until Dec 2014.

The maximum punishment for sexual penetration with a minor is 10 years’ jail and a fine.

Teo has been suspended from the Singapore Armed Forces.

Teo’s actions are shocking for a RSM, not to mention, as a husband and a father as well or even as a human being.

For his personal indiscretion, Teo not only lost his respected job as a RSM, he disappointed all the soldiers who looked up to him as a role model, brought public shame to his own family and will now be spending time in jail.

A search on social media revealed that Teo seems quite hip for a RSM. He has a private Instagram account, a Twitter account and a Vimeo account. The accounts are all empty though; maybe because he deleted everything to avoid scrutiny.

A search on Facebook revealed several posts where soldiers who have worked with him sung praises of him as a good RSM:

What a fall from grace for Teo Chye Siong – from a leading figure at the National Day Parade to a convicted sex offender that preys on a girl as young as his own children.

Hopefully Teo learned his lesson and will become a better person when he gets out of jail to start his life afresh.