Christopher Sim Siong Chye was a counsellor at the Singapore Embassy in Japan when he committed the offences. -INSTAGRAM, SINGAPORE EMBASSY TOKYO/FACEBOOK
SINGAPORE: A former diplomat, who was convicted in 2024 after secretly filming a boy at a public bath in Tokyo, has been stripped of two medals awarded by the Singapore government.
Christopher Sim Siong Chye, who was sacked by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on April 2, was stripped of his Covid-19 Resilience medal on April 14 and Long Service medal on April 22.
Both forfeitures were announced in the government gazette.
Sim, 56, was a counsellor – a diplomatic rank for experienced foreign service officers – at the Singapore Embassy in Japan when he committed the offences there.
On Feb 27, 2024, he was caught using a smartphone to film an undressed male teenager in the men’s changing room of a public bath.
A search of his phone found footage of the boy in the nude, as well as footage of multiple male customers that seemed to have been taken in the bath’s communal changing room.
Japanese national broadcaster NHK reported that the boy was a junior high school student aged 13.
Sim had admitted to investigators then that he also took such photos at other public baths.
When he was caught, at least 700 images taken over a six-month period were found on his phone.
Sim deleted the images on the spot.
The Japanese police were unable to detain him then as he had immunity from prosecution as a diplomat.
In mid-April 2024, he returned to Singapore after completing his tour of duty.
On May 2 that year, MFA said it was prepared to waive his diplomatic immunity to facilitate investigations by the Japanese authorities.
Sim was also suspended from duty to assist in investigations.
Days later, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department made a request to the Singapore Embassy through Japan’s Foreign Ministry to get Sim to return to the country.
Sim returned to Japan on June 9, 2024, and was questioned by the Japanese authorities, reported the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
He was quoted as saying that he had done so out of remorse and of his own will.
He was later fined 300,000 yen (S$2,740) for trespassing the bathhouse and violating the Tokyo government’s ordinance for public disturbances.
A career diplomat, Sim is also a published author. He wrote a book about his travels across several countries between 1995 and 2004.
He joined MFA in 1993, according to a 2011 publication by the Public Service Division. - The Straits Times/ANN
