Singapore security employee union says it stands by officers involved in Hong Kong school principal incident

SINGAPORE: The Union of Security Employees (USE) said on Thursday (May 28) that it "stands firmly behind" the security guards involved in a confrontation with a Hong Kong school principal in which he swore at them. 

The secondary school principal, Mr Lee Cheuk‑hing, who was on a trip to Singapore with a group of students, was seen arguing with the guards over a parking matter at SAFRA Jurong in a video widely circulated on social media.

Mr Lee has since tendered his resignation from San Wui Commercial Society Secondary School in Tuen Mun and apologised for his failure to "lead by example".

The school had earlier suspended him from his post, with the school's manager saying: "Though he said he wanted to protect the students, his actions did not meet what the public expects of a school principal."

Providing its account of the incident, USE said that a chartered tour bus carrying 34 students from Hong Kong had stopped on the public main road directly outside the gates of SAFRA Jurong, along unbroken double yellow lines, on May 22 at about 5.30pm.

"The parked vehicle completely blocked the traffic entering SAFRA", and as this timing coincided with peak childcare dismissal hours, it caused a severe traffic bottleneck and prevented parents from driving into the compound to pick up their children, the union said in a Facebook post.

Frontline security officers then stepped outside and instructed the bus driver to either move into the premises to a designated rear drop-off area, or move so as not to obstruct incoming traffic.

"Instead of cooperation, their instructions were rejected. They were told to 'shut up', and received an aggressive verbal tirade of profanities and taunts," said USE.

"The tense situation dissipated when parents of the school children who were trying to go in to pick up their children stepped in to request the driver to move."

The union said that the principal "immediately altered his demeanour" and cooperated, telling one of the parents that she was "very polite".

"This incident created intense, unnecessary friction for a whole ecosystem of ground-level workers, including our frontline security officers who faced significant hostility while executing their public safety duties, and the local bus driver caught in an operational bottleneck between passenger demands and traffic regulations," the union said.

It added that one of the security officers had made an official police report over the verbal abuse and obstruction.

In response to a query from CNA on Friday, the police confirmed that a report had been lodged over the incident.

USE said that it is working closely with the unnamed unionised security agency that employs the affected officers to support them and ensure that "their well-being is taken care of throughout this process".

"USE stands firmly behind our officers, who were placed in an incredibly challenging operational environment while trying to keep the premises safe," the union added.CNA has reached out to USE and SAFRA Jurong for more information.

USE's Facebook post drew a number of comments that were critical of the conduct of one of the security guards seen in the video, however. The security guard can be seen shouting at Mr Lee in the video, which some Facebook users took issue with.

The driver of the bus, meanwhile, reportedly said that one of the security guards raised her voice at passengers.

CNA has asked USE for further comment on the matter. It has also sent SAFRA Jurong queries about the incident.