Man jailed, caned for extortion, slapping teenager who chanted secret society slogan

SINGAPORE: When Chia Kok Long overheard a teenager shout a secret society slogan as the teen and his friends walked past a void deck, he approached the group, slapped the boy twice and demanded that they give him money.

For his actions, Chia, 32, was sentenced on Tuesday (May 22) to two years and three months’ imprisonment, with one stroke of the cane.

Chia pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt and another charge for extortion. Four other charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Court documents showed that on Oct 13, 2017, the five teenagers, who were all secondary school students, were walking past Chia, who was sitting at a void deck in Hougang. As they passed him, one teen suddenly began chanting a secret society slogan in Hokkien.

Chia then shouted at them and approached them, uttering Hokkien vulgarities, and asked them if they “play gang”. The teens denied doing so even after repeated questioning.

When one teen admitted to chanting the slogan, Chia gave him a hard slap on his cheek. He then threatened to call the Secret Societies Branch (SSB) of the police.

He then demanded that the teens take out their wallets and hand over their money, otherwise he would call the police. They complied, and he received a total of S$104 from them.

He then told them that they could fight him and if they won, they could have their money back. When the teen who had chanted the slogan apologised, Chia slapped him again, but decided to return some of the cash taken to the victims.

He returned a total of S$30. After a further exchange, he left the scene.

The incident was witnessed by a passer-by who advised the teens to make a police report. Chia was arrested the same evening.

For voluntarily causing hurt, Chia could have been jailed for up to two years, with a fine of up to S$5,000. For extortion, he could have been jailed up to seven years, with caning.