A Second Chance

Last Wednesday, the bus I was travelling on passed by the Kaki Bukit Prison School. It is heartening to see the school because it holds hope and restoration for many young offenders who fell at some point in their lives. For some, they may not even be keen to pursue any study because they feel that their life is doomed for sure failure. Bleakness and hopelessness clouded their lives. They do not see any hope let alone the idea of preparing for their future. Yet for some of them, they refuse to give up and hope against all hope. They want to change radically because they knew that they have brought pain not just to themselves but their loved ones. The society needs to make room for them to take another shot in life again. With our support, we can help reintegrate these young people back into society. They deserve a second chance in life. We can show them the light at the end of the tunnel.

I chanced upon an amazing story of the life of Jonathan Tang. His story goes:

“When I was 15, I was expelled from secondary school due to misconduct. My parents decided to send me to Australia to study in a boarding school, which turned out to be a bad move. I got into lots of fights there and was a school terror. When I came back to Singapore for the hols, I ran away from home the day before I was supposed to return to Australia. I bunked at a friend’s place for one month and tried drugs for the first time.

“My friend and I peddled drugs to earn extra cash but we ended up consuming more than we sold. It was so bad that I was snorting drugs more than I was drinking water. One time, I got into a fight and was arrested by the police. They checked my urine which tested positive for drugs and I was sent to the Reformative Training Centre (RTC).

“For the first three months, I had to undergo a reformation programme. The wardens meted out intense physical and mental torture. It was the first time I ever felt fear. Prior to that, I rebelled against all forms of authority — my parents, school and even the police.

“I was given an opportunity to go to Kaki Bukit Prison School but got kicked out soon after for getting into fights. Because of that, I became a condemned inmate and was placed in solitary confinement for nine months. Being locked up 24 hours a day was really hard. I became fearless. Seeing that they were losing me, the wardens adopted drastic measures which involved physical torture. Finally, I broke down.

“Interesting enough, during my isolation, they didn’t give me anything to read except a Bible so I prayed to God and asked Him to save me. I was about to explode. I’d kept a chicken bone and was prepared to fight off the wardens. But when I prayed, suddenly, this peace just overwhelmed me. I threw away the bone and endured the physical torture. When the wardens saw how I humbled myself, obeyed their orders, stayed away from fights and shared my stuff, they set me free from my isolation cell.

“When I was eventually released from RTC after two years, people said that I’ll return within one month ‘cos a leopard never changes its spots. RTC has a very bad record. It’s nicknamed Road to Changi ‘cos nine out of 10 will go back to prison again. It was a big challenge for me to turn over a new leaf. But I started going to church and got enrolled in City Harvest Education Centre (CHEC).

“At first, I was very quiet and anti-social. I was feeling lonely ‘cos I had to cut off contact with all my friends who were still serving time. But one particular teacher who was my mentor actually stepped past the thin red line into a danger zone that was my personal life. She was the first personal friend I had in three years. She’d call me and just be my friend outside school hours. That was how I opened up and started becoming friendly. I even started joking around. In CHEC, I found a whole new place to fall back on. I had something to look forward to for once.

“Once during school camp, I somehow went mad and started getting very angry and violent. But the teachers were so patient. They acceded to my requests, which calmed me down. I was very touched and after that, I became really committed to change my temper.

“I actually got the date for my Principle Of Accounts paper mixed up so I missed the exam last year. I’ll be taking it this year while I serve my National Service. The school’s very supportive, they offered to give me extra classes. I told my principal that it was too troublesome for them but he said, “No, we must see you to the end.” I was so touched.

“My biggest dream in life has nothing to do with monetary gains. I just want to give back what I have received in my life. I’ve a deep passion to help people like myself — boys in RTC and those whom people have given up hope on. If I can change, I believe others can too.””