Jaclyn Teo vs Cheongsam lady, and all

I don't know Jaclyn Teo before the Cheongsam lady was "flamed" in the net (with nastiness being flung her way and her families). I empathized with the Cheongsam lady and her family. It was uncalled for for Jacklyn Teo to do the things she did.

Who is Jacclyn Teo? Why did she do the things she did? I Googled.

She was in the news complaining about police's poor response to a distress call about an old drunkard trying to enter her car. According to Jaclyn, she and her husband had to travel to Upper Thomson at around 2am on Sunday to get supper for her "ailing father" at a convenience store. Probably their fridge was totally empty at home. That's a really odd hour to go out from home purposely to get something (or were they somewhere earlier), and did Jaclyn and her husband traveled from home just to get food for dad? I'm asking out of curiosity.

The husband alighted and left the doors to the car unlocked. How responsible is that? According to Jaclyn, the old drunkard opened the door and started spewing vulgarities and gesturing angrily. My next question, did the drunkard swear in English (or was there misunderstanding)? Why was he targeting her car? What triggered his action? Was there a misunderstanding? Fortunately, she managed to close the door and locked them.

The next thing that perplexed me was this. Instead of calling her husband for help, Jaclyn called the police. Did her absent-minded husband forget his phone? During the phone conversation with police, was the husband still busy at the convenient store? If Jaclyn could call the police, I guess there was no immediate danger to her. However, Jaclyn insisted that the police should get their butt there ASAP. Again, is the husband still dillydallying in the convenient store? From the pic posted, it was obvious that the street was not deserted. I could see people there, suggesting that Jaclyn was at no instance, in real danger. However, the video that she posted later showed an "agitated" drunkard (and I'm not sure if the husband is in it). Could the video capturing have triggered the drunkard's "agitated behaviour"? Instead of driving away after the husband finished shopping, why stop to take video to add tension to the situation? If the drunkard was dangerous, it wouldn't have been smooth sailing (or advisable) for the person to take the pics/videos, thus suggesting that the whole drama was probably an over-reaction.

As I remembered, in Rescue 911 (a TV program), police always advised the callers to be more proactive when it comes to personal safety. Example, if the caller was at home alone and a burglary was in progress, the police would advice the caller to lock the bedroom door (and keep quiet) and wait for police dispatch to arrive. The recorded exchange would show the police speaking in a calm tone and giving explicit instruction to the caller who would sound panicky all the time. In the above case, the caller was trapped and alone in the house with a burglar (or burglars) who might be armed and dangerous. Thus a police dispatch would be rather appropriate in this case but still, dispatch takes time and being proactive to protect yourself is still important. However, for Jaclyn's case, she managed to lock the door (when she was calling the police) and there was no further dangerous behaviour from the old drunkard (because there was no report of property damage to the car nor personal injury thereafter). Imagine if the drunkard had used an empty or full bottle to crack her windshield, that would have been a different scenario. Her insistence for immediate police dispatch was over-reaction. Her expectation for god-like speed dispatch was unrealistic, especially considering that all the while she was not able to furnish the exact location (it's not a house address but street, mind you) to the police operator. In a situation such as this, leaving the place once the husband finished shopping would have been appropriate. However, this is not the case. I suspected that the husband could be the person taking the video of the drunkard later. To me, a normal response would have been to drive away instead of prolonging the confrontation by video capturing, which could have escalate the bad situation.

An analogy to Jaclyn's case would be for someone who spotted an incipient fire (but a manageable one) from a BBQ pit. Instead of calling for other BBQ friend to help get a bucket/bottle of water to douse the fire, one smart Alec called the fire department. The personnel on the phone advised the caller the steps to be taken to manage the situation, and if all else failed, EVACUATE. If the fire was an incipient fire (just as the old "harmless" drunkard), it would have been easier if the caller acted more proactively to protect himself/herself rather than insist that a fire-engine be dispatched (thus wasting resources), which could at anytime be a life-saver for other people who really needed help. If I was her husband, I wouldn't be flashing out my phone to take photos/videos (I'm assuming it must be the hubby, but it could be Jaclyn too) because if the drunkard was indeed dangerous, he would have acted in more aggressive manner after the "taunt".

What is more perplexing was that, after sometime, Jaclyn claimed that the old drunkard was a molester (aka Jaclyn's Molester). What is going on? How could an old drunkard who might be "swearing" in Tamil (or probably in English), who didn't manage to get into her car (although he was claimed to have opened the door), who didn't act unruly to the extent of damaging her car in order to force himself to her, was able and managed to MOLEST her? Was she speaking sanely after having the car accident? I will give that the benefit of the doubt (BOTD).

Also, Jaclyn is an expert in Information Technology with a degree in Computer and Information security. In the news, she was quoted as a volunteer in an NGO that helps single mothers. The voluntary work is commendable, but her attitude is wrong. How could a social work volunteer harbour such negative perception towards the POLICE? She was quoted as saying, "I don't trust 999 anymore after my incident with that drunkard molester @ Jln Ikan Merah". To be a social worker, you should be working closely with authority and especially police, especially in cases of abusive spouses (or loan-shark harassment). Having no faith in government machinery disqualify you from helping people! Instead of complaining about one/two bad apples, social workers work around huddles to get to HELP and relay it to those in-need. IMHO, Jaclyn is unfit for the role (although I'm not sure how active she is in the social work, really). Her attitude, especially how she allowed her Facebook post to victimize the cheongsam lady by making public a personal opinion/thought that escalated to cyber bullying, was sickening. That to me, is not how a social worker mindset/attitude is supposed to be.

Also, Jaclyn's choice of word for special children as "retard" is very distasteful. That's not a slip-up because a social worker will never be ignorant to that extent.

To sidetrack a little, if I am the organizer of CPF protest and there is a clash with annual YMCA event for special kids, I would have executed the protest in the most appropriate manner possible (in order not to disrupt the YMCA event). Regardless of whether the event clash was intended or not, and since the events were clashed anyway, I would have to give the benefit of the doubt anyway and would have conducted myself the best I could with HEART and CONSIDERATION. To retreat sometimes is better than to charge at the wrong target or unfavourable condition (Sun Tzu's advice). To frighten kids and disrupt volunteering (feel good) work is despicable. There will always be plenty of chance to protest (you can even protest numerous times per year if you want), but YMCA Prom @ the Park is an annual event (in which the kids had practiced hard prior to the event). Sadly, there is no heart in the CPF Protest organizing committee. They should have given the benefit of the doubt to the whole event if they had HEART. Alas, they were adamant and harboured useless doubts that the whole event was PLANNED!!! Even if it had been planned, they could have at least showed some mercy to the innocent by-participants comprising children but unfortunately, their cause is far too great than others.

Back on track.

To Jaclyn, I have this to say... Just because the old drunkard is dark-skinned doesn't qualify him as a molester. For all I know, he could be trying to ask for some spare coins from you (as I had encountered many times myself). If indeed he had molested you, you have the responsibility to report the case to police to avoid similar incidence from happening to other people. It is unrealistic (although I wished it was) for police to just pop-up whenever a call of molestation or crime in progress is made. The best way to help yourself is to do it yourself while waiting for help. To expect god-like speed police arrival is flawed, and to accuse police of being incompetent is unfair. Regarding your claim that the police operator was unhelpful, I have this to say. When the police woman sounded "uninterested", she was actually trying to speak to you in a "calm tone", so as not to aggravate your panic and also to give you a clear explicit instruction to help yourself while waiting for help. She would also be asking you in a calm tone to get your exact location, the description of the aggressor, the colour of your car, the plate number etc. Also, technology today don't work the way you thought it to work (thanks to Hollywood), hence to pin-point (or triangulate) a call would need a lot of time and additional help from service providers. You are an IT expert surely you should know this. If indeed phones were really efficient in locating people, most criminals would have been phone-less by now. Last, don't use the police "incompetency" as your political material because it's not doing you any mileage. The police has done more good things that goes unreported, e.g. police who got killed or hurt in action and those who worked hard to protect the people round the clock, they never wanted recognition. But what you are doing is unfair to their hard work.

Just a thought.

Edited couple of times liao... sien