account with police

this was written by someone else. i am re-posting this. all names have been changed.

hi folks,

just like to share with you about my encounter with the police last night, sha was also with me and the whole incident was pretty amusing.

last night we were standing along Lor. 16 and talking to Lisa (a transgender sex worker) around 8pm when the police van entered Lor. 16. the driver shouted "Lady Boy" at Lisa, and then the van stopped. 3 police officers came out, one chinese, one indian and one malay (so multi-racial in their raids). they walked towards us and said to Lisa: "are they your school friends?" this question was asked repeatedly and i was a little annoyed coz the implication was "has Lisa attended school"? i didn't say anything, and they asked elle for her IC, Lisa obliged. and then they asked us for our IC. this time i said firmly, i am a social worker. they were a little taken aback and didn't press us for our IC. the malay police officer asked us to go away, and i parted with "be gentle, don't be rough".

during that short period of time, my mind was racing, what should i do? should i go against everything? (i can be very nasty if needed) or should i not waste my energy on small fries like them? i chose not to waste my energy coz if this issue of police treatment needs to be addressed, i reckon we should go to higher ranks to negotiate, not talk to small fries who only take orders from the higher level. of course it's annoying to see low ranking people throw their weight around but i reckon we don't need to get upset and "beat the grass but frigthen the snake" (chinese proverb).

i comforted myself by thinking at least some of them know there are people around who work for the sex workers.

quite an interesting encounter with the police.

A few weeks back, I met with Savithri (not her real name) who had been hit in the eye with a lighter from her ex-boyfriend. She now has to undergo surgery to regain the use of her right eye. She cannot open her eye lid much less see from her right eye. Savithri does not have enough in her Medisave account to pay for her treatment. She is seeking help on this.