Friends and associates of Howard Shaw rallied around
the green activist on Thursday, a day after the scion of the
prominent Shaw family was implicated in a scandal involving an
underage prostitute.
On Wednesday, the 41-year-old showed up at the Subordinate
Courts to face the charge of paying for sex with the girl in
October 2010 at Hotel 81 Bencoolen. The girl, who was 17 at the
time of the act, cannot be named due to a gag order imposed by the
court.
With him was his lawyer, Wendell Wong from Drew and Napier, and
his wife of six months, Jessie Xue, who according to local reports,
was calm and composed throughout the court hearing. Howard faces a
maximum sentence of seven years in jail if convicted of the
charge.
The couple got married last November and appeared on the cover
of local high-society magazine Singapore Tatler in February for a
feature on "Great Romances". They had met six years ago when Xue
was a contestant in a Miss Earth pageant, where he was a trainer
and judge.
Not much else is known about his 26-year-old wife, but Yahoo!
Singapore understands that she is from China and had graduated from
a local polytechnic sometime in 2004. Thereafter, she worked as an
operating theatre nurse in a local hospital. She was also a
part-time model and was featured in local men's magazine FHM in
2007.
This is also Shaw's second marriage; he was said to have
divorced his ex-wife about seven years ago and they have two
daughters aged 11 and nine.
On Thursday, friends of the former Singapore Environment Council
(SEC) executive director contacted by Yahoo! Singapore painted a
picture of a man who is down-to-earth and passionate in driving
various environmental movements when asked about him.
Li-Ann Wee, a doctor who has known Shaw for more than 20 years,
described him as a "gentle, unpretentious, intelligent and
thoughtful man".
"He has a lot of conviction about environmental causes and has
worked hard all his life to achieve greater environmental awareness
in Singapore," she added.
Shaw joined the SEC, an independently-funded, non-governmental
organisation, when it was started in 1995. Last April he joined the
Halcyon Agri Corporation, an investment holding company with
businesses in rubber plantations and the offshore and marine
sectors, as senior vice-president for corporate social
responsibility.
Wee let on that Shaw is a humble man, adding that "not many in
high society in Singapore are as genuine as Howard". She added that
she last spoke to him when they bumped into each other at a market
in Ghim Moh a few months ago.
Another friend, a former TV presenter who declined to be named,
echoed Wee's sentiments about Shaw.
Adding that the graduate from Oxford Brookes University in
Britain "is a private person" who attends social events and parties
only occasionally. He added that "what happened with the case was
his personal life" and declined to comment more.
But those close to him continue to express shock at his
involvement with the case. A prominent socialite, who has known the
Shaw family for 25 years, said "it is out of character. Howard is a
very good man, down-to-earth and ordinary".
Wee said she was "shocked and speechless" when she found out
about the case on the news on Wednesday night. "It is unexpected
because he is such a devoted father to his two daughters".
Shaw's mobile phone was switched off when Yahoo! Singapore
called on Thursday afternoon.
