The Mango Heist Affair
Posted on September 15, 2007 - Filed Under Offbeat News
Ok, so the heading is a tad dramatic. However, given that it involves my aunt, and a 79 year old lady at that, you can understand the impact it had on me.
The caption to the photo on the right reads:
“FEISTY: Mrs Eunice Tan, 79, helped the police to nab the mango thieves along Seletar Road by trailing them in her car around the neighbourhood while keeping in constant contact with the police on her movements. She finally retrieved her 24 mangoes although she feels a bit of regret and pity for the two men who are now under police custody.”
She was my school principal during my primary school years, and for 6 years, she was not only my eldest uncle’s wife, she was also the supervisor of my school. My aunt is an extremely capable person, very intelligent and very strict. While she ruled school with an iron rod, she always remembered to make people feel important. She may not have been very communicative about her feelings for you, but she would invite even teachers to her place for Chinese New Year, Christmas, etc. - all those events “reserved” for relatives. So it wasn’t strange for me to bump into my form teacher / English teacher during “family” events.
She had no qualms being firm with teachers and students, and many of my friends stood in utter terror of her. There was no nonsense with her - if you did something wrong, it was wrong despite whatever reasons you had for doing it. I remember even as a young child, I still stood a little in awe of her though she was my aunt.
Being the niece of the school principal had its moments. While some of my more politically inclined teachers made me the class pet and I got away with some things (under reasonable limit) that other classmates couldn’t (and not that I wasn’t a model student), those who had grudges with my aunt also took the chance to vent their bitterness at me. It was amazing that at that age while I didn’t completely understand what politics was, I could read the emotionally language of teachers and friends, and intuitively sensed when a teacher’s attitude toward me was affected because of my aunt.
Thankfully, a large majority of them were more committed as teachers, and this attitude was only limited to two teachers on a more obvious level. Interestingly, one positive and the other, negative.My primary school became one that was highly notable with the Ministry of Education under my aunt’s leadership, and she won several awards and accolades for her contribution to the education system.
In any case, what happens in this event describes her exactly. Pursuing and ensuring that what’s right is instilled to the bitter end with a never-say-die, fiesty spirit until her cause was upheld. Yet on the humane side, she had a compassion and soft spot for the circumstances of less fortunate ones. While this isn’t the first time that she has appeared in the news - she was quite well known and famous in her hey days - this is definitely a milestone for her that at the age of 79, her fighting spirit is still going strong!
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