Everything Also Complain

From ‘Law Prof charged with corruption’, 28 July 2012, article by Bryna Sim, ST

IT STARTED with a $740 Montblanc pen and ended with sex. Yesterday, National University of Singapore (NUS) law professor and former district judge Tey Tsun Hang was charged with six counts of corruptly obtaining gratification from a student in 2010. Two involved sexual gratification.

The gifts and sex were allegedly inducements for Tey to show favour in his assessment of the academic performance of then NUS law student Darinne Ko Wen Hui. Ms Ko, 23, graduated last month and is said to be holding a summer associate position in a law firm in New York. She has not been charged.

She said through her lawyers Subhas Anandan and Sunil Sudheesan yesterday that she ‘strenuously denies any corrupt wrongdoing’. Tey, 41, is accused of receiving the Montblanc pen from Ms Ko in May 2010. In the same month, he got an iPod worth $160 from her, and on June 22, he got two tailored shirts valued at $236.20. On July 1, she paid a bill of $1,278.60 for him.

Two prominent lawyers are hogging the headlines as we speak. One, an author of a book titled ‘TRUSTS, TRUSTEES and Equitable Remedies’ (worth $267.50. If you sell 3 of those you could get yourself luxury stationery), and a certain M Ravi with a personal mission to bring down the Law Society while dancing at Speaker’s Corner as a sideline. But I refrain from saying much about Ravi’s antics, since aside from the occasional derangement, he seems to know perfectly well what he’s doing especially when it comes to writing letters of complaint. Preferring to describe his mania as ‘eccentricity’ instead, he’s apparently a fan of evergreen Mandopop songs as well. I can’t think of a better actor to play him in a biopic than Kumar.

The ‘NUS Sex for Grades’ scandal is an extreme case of what we used to call ‘favouritism’, with Darrine Ko taking on the role of the ‘teacher’s pet’. Before such deeds were labelled as corruption, presenting gifts to teachers with the hope for ‘more lenient’ grading was something that even PARENTS would do. Back in 1989, the issue of ‘tokens of appreciation’ masked as ‘bribes’ was raised, when teachers were presented with CARTIER pens and expensive watches by wealthy parents via their kids. In Thailand, you can buy an ‘A’ grade with a bottle of whisky.

Bribery starts even before children pick up their first textbook. In 1971, for a measly $100, you could get a teacher to pull strings and get your kid in a branded school. Today’s parents may decide to go beyond ‘volunteering’ in schools to earn admission rights short of giving teachers red packets or ‘tea money’. In fact, if every subtle case of ‘you scratch my back and I scratch yours’ were classified as gratification in the legal sense, most of us who have ever volunteered to clean the classroom’s fish tank, carry our teachers’ books or treated our boss to lunch would risk getting embroiled in scandal though to us such acts are nothing more than ass-kissing, groveling, bootlicking, ball-cradling or in local parlance ‘sakar’.

To quote the writer of the above article, ‘Corruption may not be the oldest profession, it is certainly the oldest vice, for was not Eve tempted by an apple?’ In the seventies, students themselves had already learnt how to ‘score points’ with teacher, showing random acts of kindness such as buying food or being the first to clean the blackboard or replenish used chalk.  You didn’t need to pay their bills, buy them clothing or seduce them for a glowing testimonial. The problem with ‘acting on the ball’ for benefits, obviously, is that you will get noticed. Darrine Ko got noticed, and then some. This incident has brought new meaning to PET in ‘teacher’s pet’. If indeed Darrine had the motive and desired pay off but never got whistleblown, one can imagine how applying the same ‘soft skill’ in her current position would boost her career prospects. If another infamous RGS alumnus, retired pornstar Annabel Chong  had used her appetite for sex in a more discreet manner, she probably would have gotten more out of life than say, a reputation of  screwing 251 random men at one go.

Filed under: 1970s, 1980s, 2012, Justice system/Lawsuits, Sex, Teachers Tagged: | education, justice system, Kids, lawyers, Sex, Teachers