Articles & News

June 2, 2008

Caught in Singapore legal web

By Sarah Frier / Daily News Correspondent

One week in April, Palo Alto native Chong Kee Tom had to share a 9-foot-by-6-foot cell with a man on death row in the notorious Queenstown Remand Prison in Singapore.

Tom said he bathed out of a squat toilet in the corner of the cell and woke to the sounds of cane beatings. "It was the most horrifying experience of my life."

His alleged crime was criminal intimidation - sending a threatening text message to his wife's lover.

While out on bail awaiting trial, Tom is desperately seeking help to avoid a conviction and a seven-year prison term.

His life began to unravel late last year while in Singapore with his family for business. Tom said his wife filed for divorce and removed his name from the occupant list of their rental home. Devastated, he returned to the United States and placed himself in the Promises Treatment Center in Malibu to recover from acute anxiety. There, Tom said, he received e-mails from his wife saying her new boyfriend was moving in.

That's when he decided to return to Singapore, to reunite with his children.

"I had to go back to my kids. I had to go back to my kids, it was my home," Tom said. "I risked my life and my freedom to go back to Singapore."

Blocked from visiting his home because it would be considered trespassing, Tom said he hasn't seen his children in 113 days and counting.

"He was definitely going crazy, being in the situation that he was," said his college friend, Alex Gheorghian.

A frustrated Tom then text-messaged Hannu Ruoppa, his wife's lover, April 25: "You have abducted my children. You just said you were with my children. I'm going to find you and kill you."

The next day, Tom was in prison.

Since his release on bail a week later, Tom sends a letter every day to his wife's attorney, seeking permission to visit with his 1-year-old girl and 2-year-old boy. He said he's constantly contacting Singapore's Ministry of Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the police and the U.S. Embassy in Singapore. And everyday, he sends e-mails to his friends and his wife's friends, giving updates and asking for help.

Tom said he feels he was unlawfully treated because he didn't get a trial before spending a week in jail and his passport was confiscated by the Singapore government.

Unfortunately for Tom, his legal rights are different in Singapore than in Palo Alto.

"When you are in a foreign country you are subject to their laws," said Edgar Vasquez, a U.S. State Department spokesman. "We do whatever we can to assist, but ultimately they're under the jurisdiction of the country they're detained in."

For privacy reasons, the U.S. Embassy in Singapore says it does not comment on matters concerning individual Americans in foreign countries.

Tom said he has exhausted his life's savings on attorneys in Singapore and the United States for both criminal and custody issues to little avail. He said he was let out of prison for a day to represent himself in a custody hearing, which he did unprepared while dressed in an orange jumpsuit and shackles.

If convicted of criminal intimidation, Tom could face at least seven years in prison. In bringing attention to his plight, Tom hopes his sentence would be reduced if he's found guilty.

"It's all kind of like a movie to me," said Randy Jensen, Tom's friend for 27 years. "It's all kind of bizarre. I just hope he can get a way to see his children."

Tom's sister, Hsiu-Yen Brosmith, wired money for his $22,200 bail.

"You can be nothing but totally surprised by this whole situation," she said.

Alluding to the case of Michael Fay, an American teenager caned in 1994 in Singapore at Queenstown prison for graffiti and theft, Brosmith said she is worried for her brother but feels helpless. Fay's case became national news, but after negotiations between the United States and Singapore his sentence could only be reduced from six cane strokes to four. Fay later returned to the United States after being caned and serving a four-month prison term.

"I don't exactly know what I can do if President Clinton couldn't bring back a U.S. citizen who's being caned for graffiti," Brosmith said.

Mike Merlo, a friend of Tom who is visiting Singapore to help him sort out legal issues, said that even though Tom missed his children, sending the threatening text message in a foreign country was reckless.

"He's not helping himself," Merlo said. "There's a part of me that's like 'Gee, CK, what were you thinking?'"

For now, Tom said he's more concerned about seeing his children and bringing them back to Palo Alto.

"It's a really messy, very scary situation," Tom said.



E-mail Sarah Frier at sfrier@dailynewsgroup.com.