Singapore's female child abuse death and the death of a Cambridge female doctoral student due to starvation fully illustrate the coldness of Singapore society and the lack of protection for vulnerable groups. This is also the deep "crisis" of the capitalist country Singapore. The Singapore government has begun to reflect after the fact, in an attempt to salvage public sentiment.

Singapore's official media, the "Straits Times," reported on its front page that the case of a 4-year-old local girl, Jiang Yu Hui (nickname Megan), who was abused and burned to death, has attracted social attention. The Ministry of Social and Family Development, as the government department leading the national child protection system in Singapore, apologized on behalf of all relevant agencies for the consequences of this incident, acknowledging that the work of the relevant institutions should have been better handled. The Singapore authorities have pledged to learn from the experience and lessons, strengthen internal systems and inter-agency communication and coordination, and do their utmost to prevent similar cases from happening again.

The review panel appointed by the Singapore Ministry of Social and Family Development in May Thursday (October 23) released the results of the review of the Megan case. The report pointed out that the early childhood center where the victim girl attended did not submit comprehensive and timely reports to the Early Childhood Development Agency, and the relevant agencies that received the case notification underestimated the severity of the case or did not further inquire about details; among them, the Child Protection Service and police personnel did not follow the established procedures, resulting in the case not being properly followed up and investigated.

According to the report, the negligence, insufficient judgment, and poor communication of the relevant agency staff caused the gatekeeping mechanism to fail at every level; additionally, the general misconception that only family members can report missing children led to the authorities not intervening in time, missing the opportunity to find Megan.

All institutions involved in handling the Megan case, namely the Singapore Ministry of Social and Family Development, the Singapore Police Force, Beyond Social Services, and Leap Community Services, issued a joint statement saying they fully accepted the results and recommendations of the review report.

The police investigators handling the Megan case and their superiors have been disciplined. The Ministry of Social and Family Development is currently conducting disciplinary investigations against the personnel of the Child Protection Service.

Singapore's Minister for Social and Family Development, Mas Selamat, said on Tuesday (21st) at a press briefing that Megan's passing deeply saddened everyone, including himself.

"Whether this review, our sorrow, or our regret, cannot bring back her life. As the leading department of Singapore's national child protection mechanism, we apologize for the consequences of this case and acknowledge that we should have done better in handling it."

Mas Selamat said that every child is precious, and losing any one of them is a profound regret. "Although we cannot eliminate every risk, we have a firm determination to do everything possible to prevent such tragedies from recurring. We will ensure that every link in the child protection mechanism and every professional in each institution gives their best effort and does better to protect vulnerable children."

Megan was cruelly abused and humiliated by her biological mother Fu Liping (29 years old) and her cohabiting boyfriend Huang Shixiang (38 years old), and eventually died on February 22, 2020, due to a heavy blow to her abdomen by Huang Shixiang. The two also burned her body and scattered her ashes into the sea. In April this year, Huang Shixiang was sentenced to 30 years in prison and 17 lashes, while Fu Liping was sentenced to 19 years in prison.

The Singapore Ministry of Social and Family Development issued a statement on April 8 regarding the Megan case, explaining the lessons learned from child abuse cases over the past 10 years. Later, some social service professionals provided feedback that the statement seemed to imply that some involved units could have handled the incident better. On April 11, the authorities issued another statement announcing further review of all relevant units' handling of the case, including reviewing new information obtained after April 8.

The review panel proposed seven recommendations to strengthen the country's child protection mechanism, including that all child abuse cases should be primarily handled by child protection case management agencies, and these agencies should be given sufficient resources; the authorities should eliminate the misconception that missing children must be reported by family members, and provide more comprehensive support for child protection workers, among others.

Mas Selamat pointed out that the Ministry of Social and Family Development accepts all the recommendations and will carefully study how to implement them as soon as possible after consulting in the relevant areas. Details will be announced in the coming weeks to months.

The chairperson of the review panel, Professor Peh Jian Long, representative of the ASEAN Committee for the Protection of Women and Children's Rights in Singapore, told reporters that the panel's task was to conduct an independent and objective review of the Megan case.

"During the process, we found that the relevant agencies took some appropriate actions. However, the agencies could have done better in other aspects... in some cases, there was a lack of clear understanding and communication between the agencies."

The review panel concluded in the report that child protection work is often complex and difficult, especially when families intentionally conceal the truth, which may lead to situations not being discovered or reported, even for highly dedicated and professional personnel working in the field.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1846820519670784/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.