Indonesian man jailed for swimming back to Singapore despite being deported

Yusoff Ishak, a 37-year-old Indonesian national, was sentenced to jail for four months and five strokes of the cane on Thursday.

He pleaded guilty to one count under the Immigration Act of entering Singapore without a valid pass, with another count of illegally returning to Singapore taken into consideration.

The court heard that Yusoff was sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail, four strokes of the cane and fined S$1,000 (US$743) in January 2022 for entering Singapore illegally and for customs-related offences.

In December 2023, while in Batam, Yusoff decided to enter Singapore illegally to seek employment, even though he knew he could not do so without written permission.

He paid a boatman 6 million rupiah to board his sampan. Halfway through the journey to Singapore, he jumped off and swam to a shoreline in Changi.

The court heard Yusoff had received jail and caning for similar immigration offences in December 2016, which meant this was his third conviction for entering Singapore illegally.

The judge said he was a recalcitrant offender.

Yusoff was one of three Indonesian men sentenced to jail and caning on Thursday for entering Singapore illegally – all labelled recalcitrant offenders by the judge.

Another man, 31-year-old La Haji, was sentenced to one year and five months’ jail and five strokes of the cane. He had entered Singapore by swimming in using a black trash bag as a flotation device.

The third man, 25-year-old Cimun, was given a year’s jail and six strokes of the cane. He had taken a speedboat from Batam before transferring to a barge and entering the water to swim towards Changi.

None of the men were represented. They asked for leniency and shorter sentences and did not explain why they committed their offences.

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