Cleared of charges but given the
sack
S'pore Scout Association terminates
membership of scout leader accused of harassing female
volunteers
REPORT: ESTHER NG
THE Singapore Scout Assocation (SSA) has cleared a former
volunteer scout leader at Bukit Panjang Government High School, Mr
Ang Lian Kwee, of allegations of abusing his position in harassing
female volunteer leaders.
However, the SSA found Mr Ang's conduct "unbecoming of a
HQ volunteer leader" and "terminated" his membership in April this
year, the SSA told The New Paper in an email reply to queries.
"This means that Ang is henceforth barred from
participating in any scout activity," said an SSA spokesman.
The SSA could not elaborate on Mr Ang's "unbecoming"
conduct by press time yesterday.
The organisation had set up a board of inquiry in
February to investigate against Mr Ang, 24, after it had received a
complaint against him from a parent of another volunteer leader on
Jan 31.
The complainant alleged that Mr Ang had abused his
position by harassing fellow volunteer leaders and claimed to have
heard of three earlier incidents where he had been involved with
other girls.
Mr Ang had identified the complainant as the father of
another volunteer leader, who is his ex-girlfriend's current
boyfriend.
It is believed that this ex-girlfriend, who's now 20, was
a Venture scout, and attended the same polytechnic as Mr Ang. She
was his junior in the polytechnic, reported Lianhe Zaobao in
March.
In December last year, he found out that she was seeing
another volunteer scout leader at the time.
He met the new boyfriend. But things got out of hand and
the boyfriend punched him and dislodged four of his teeth,
apparently because he was angry that Mr Ang had allegedly
"harassed" his girlfriend for months, reported Shin Min Daily News
in March.
Since the beginning of the investigation by SSA in
February, Mr Ang has "not been allowed to conduct scouting
activities in any school", a Minister of Education spokesman told
TNP.
When contacted yesterday, Mr Ang did not want to
comment.
Strange
One parent, Mr L.W.Tan , 58, whose daughter is a scout in
Yuan Ching Secondary, told TNP that he had found it "strange" that
the SSA had cleared Mr Ang of the allegations, but "sacked him from
the association".
Said Mr Tan: "One wonders what this 'unbecomingconduct'
was. It would be good if they could clarify (what constitutes such
unbecoming conduct)."
He added: "As a parent of a 15-year-old daughter, I'm
concerned - young people can be impressionable and be easily
influenced by peer pressure into doing things that they
shouldn't.
"Youth leaders need to set a good example and be mindful
not to abuse their position of power," he said.
Mr Ang had been involved in scouting activities for about
12 years and was the leader of the Bukit Panjang district, a member
of the SSA's communication and relations sub-committee, one of the
editors-in-chief of the SSA's magazine and assistant national ICT
commissioner.
He began scouting when he was a student in Bukit Panjang
Government High School, where he held positions such as quarter
master and senior patrol leader.
News, The New Paper, Friday, June 29 2012, Pg 16
