Written on July 31st
Today I interviewed Henry Tan. For a bit of background: Henry Tan grew up in Chinatown. He said that several of his neighbours were involved in crimes such as consumption or dealing of illicit drugs or gambling. As a 12 year old, he got caught trafficking heroin from johor bahru.
Because he was only 12 years old, he got sent to a boys home. After that, unfortunately he continued to be involved in crime. He was in and out of prison for about 28 years. No he is a pastor, owner of a cleaning company and volunteer counselor for inmates.
The Key takeaways I got from his interview were:
- The boys home was not effective. He felt that he was surrounded by bad influences, and the home was not strict enough to change him.
- He feels that his Christian faith is what changed him
- His geographical location made him more vulnerable to getting involved in crime. Growing up in China town he was constantly surrounded by illegal activities such as drugs and gambling.
- The internet and social media play a big role in influencing youth
- There has been a shift from the kinds of drugs people take. Heroin and sleeping pills are no longer as popular as they used to be and people are shifting to pills, electronic cigarettes, ice, ecstasy and marijuana. He feels that when he was consuming drugs, people would want to take drugs for the high and just sit in a corner of a room not bothering anyone. Whereas now, people get into fights when their high.
- Also, when he was younger money was an issue. Affording drugs was not easy. However with children nowadays, they have more money and more freedom. Also, its easy to sell and deal through whatsapp.
- One of the biggest struggles as an ex-offender is finding employment. He himself had a very tough time.
- He feels that if the government wanted to catch all the drug abusers they could. The only reason they don’t is because they have a quota limiting the number of people allowed in prison.
- He agrees with caning. He feels that it is important to maintain these strict laws and have a zero tolerance stance.
- His own brother was hung for drug trafficking. At Least 10 of his friends have been hung for drug trafficking. He still feels hanging is a good strategy to fight crime, but he feels we need to reconsider the kinds of reasons as to why people are hung. He indicated that cases of rape and murder are justified, whilst drug trafficking isn’t.
Verification of Engagement Activity: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T47h7d7eHKa8UABeX-RkG6Ld1W4HerVK3CkvAhe-GZg/edit