Singaporean spy for China: Schoolmate reveals Dickson Yeo sent him 'creepy' FB message

In a stunning revelation last Friday (July 24), a Singaporean man admitted to acting as a spy for China to obtain sensitive information from the United States.

The 39-year-old alumnus of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) now faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in a US court. Dickson Yeo confessed to using his political consultancy in the US as a front to recruit vulnerable American individuals with security clearances, who were tasked to write confidential reports that would be passed on to his Chinese handlers. 

One of Yeo’s schoolmates in LKYSPP, however, noted that the Singaporean had shown signs of conducting espionage for China early on. 

In a Facebook post, US citizen Will Nguyen wrote that he and Yeo were schoolmates at the autonomous school at the National University of Singapore, but had not actually spoken to each other.

Nguyen, who made headlines in 2018 after getting arrested at a protest in Vietnam, mentioned that Yeo tried to get in touch with him several times over a period of a few months. He also listed in his post other suspicious incidents he's experienced. 

“Not only was he responsible for countless pro-Chinese hot takes in LKYSPP Facebook groups, but he also tried to contact me for whatever reason, MULTIPLE times after I got out of prison,” Nguyen wrote. 

“One message was particularly creepy, as he said he saw me on the train.”

A Facebook Messenger screenshot shows Yeo attempting to get in touch with Nguyen back in 2018. The Singaporean had been recruited by Chinese intelligence operatives in 2015 and set up his fake consulting company in 2018. 

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/304007/posts/10102898514969564/[/embed]

Nguyen highlighted that at one point, Yeo’s PhD supervisor had been Huang Jing, a Chinese-born American professor who was permanently banned from Singapore in 2017 for being an “agent of influence of a foreign country”. 

No direct threat

After he pleaded guilty to working for Chinese intelligence, LKYSPP confirmed that the school has since terminated Yeo’s PhD candidature and he is no longer a student. 

The Ministry of Home Affairs declared that its investigations into the case have not revealed any direct threat to Singapore’s security. Speaking to the media yesterday (July 26), Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan stated that Singapore is currently extending consular assistance to Yeo.

Retired diplomat Bilahari Kausikan had stronger words for the Singaporean spy: “One fool like this can get all Singaporeans suspected”. 

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/bilahari.kausikan/posts/2760980700826008[/embed]

ilyas@asiaone.com