Youth, pressured by “tiger mum”, forges transcript to get into university

A youth, Kieffer Tay Kai Xian, has been fined for submitting forged transcripts in his student application to the Singapore Institute of Management University (UniSIM) and subsequently to the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS).

Tay, 24, submitted a doctored transcript from Temasek Polytechnic to UniSim in 2016 and again in 2017 when it was renamed SUSS.

He changed his cumulative grade point average from 1.76 to 2.76 in order to increase his chances of getting into his desired finance course.

University management discovered that the documents were forged and rejected the application.

Earlier in 2019, the SUSS filed a police report that Tay had submitted forged polytechnic certificates as well.

According to court documents, Tay was reportedly under immense pressure from his mother to get into university. She is alleged to have kicked him out of the house for failing to do so.

Tay was “constantly under his mother’s radar” being the only child in the family, according to his lawyer.

The “fearsome” mother was also described as very conscious of her image and reputation. Tay’s father admitted that she pressured their son to get into university “for her to have ‘face’ in front of friends and relatives”.

She was allegedly verbally and physically abusive and needed to “keep up appearances in every way, from the house they live in and the car they drive to the places they go on holidays”, the lawyer was quoted as saying in a report by Today.

She demanded that Tay get into a “respectable local university” and criticised him for his grades.

The probation plea was rejected since Tay had committed the forgery offences after he turned 21.

Tay pleaded guilty to one charge of forgery and was ordered on Thursday (Dec 19) to pay a S$5,500 fine. The district judge also arranged for a counsellor for the family./TISG

For wanting to become a “father,” Singaporean man commits forgery and falsification of legal documents