Feature ¢ Jason Woo is the Communications Executive at MCS Comms. / Photos courtesy of Paul Ang
Caught by the hands of mercy
Being a part of the prison ministry at Tanjong Pinang, Indonesia
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f you were to meet Paul Ang today, you would be surprised that his approachable demeanour belies a past spent running from the law, having committed a series of crimes from armed robberies to drug smuggling. Years of living on the wrong side of the law came to an abrupt halt when his attempt at being a drug mule was busted at the French border, resulting in him being thrown behind bars in a foreign land. There, he would encounter God for the first time. But Paul returned to his old ways once again, before finally deciding that he needed God in his life. After filming his testimony to be shown as part of Aldersgate SG 2022 celebrations, Methodist Message (MM) sat down with Paul for a chat. He shared about his life of crime that spiralled out of control, and how he came to know God’s redemptive and restoring love.
The early years Methodist Message (MM): What were your growing years like? Paul Ang (PA): My parents divorced when I was very young. My mother raised four children as a single parent and I was the eldest. I couldn’t find love and care from the family as my mother had no time for us, and so I joined a secret society at the age of 14. Being in the gang gave me a sense of belonging. It was there that I learned to smoke, drink, take drugs and fight. MM: You were imprisoned after staging a series of armed robberies as a youth. How did the police manage to arrest you? PA: A gang member was caught by the police and gave my name to them along with the names of a few others who were involved in the robberies. This was my first brush with the law.
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METHODIST MESSAGE May 2022
Engaging the children at Cebu, Philippines
Life on the run MM: You got married in 1995 and had a child. Yet, you continued your life with drugs. Why? PA: Even after getting married and becoming a father, I did not know how to manage my life well. I would take drugs or drink excessively each time to escape my problems, thinking everything would be solved when I became sober the next day, but things just got worse. MM: When you were charged in 1997, you jumped bail and escaped to the Golden Triangle (Northern Thailand, near the borders of Laos and Myanmar). Describe what you did to evade being captured. PA: I used a friend’s passport to get myself into Malaysia and subsequently into Thailand, where I settled down. Through a recommendation of a friend, I proceeded to join an international drug syndicate. As I was fluent in Thai, most of the locals there thought that I was one of them and thus I was able to assimilate into the community. I took efforts to lie low and always made sure my trafficking and smuggling of drugs were done discreetly, hence no one really knew what I was actually up to except those who knew me well.
Captured in France MM: How did you get caught in France for drug smuggling? PA: I was an itinerary planner in the drug syndicate, in charge of coordinating and planning the safest routes to smuggle the drugs. Once, I had to arrange for 50,000 Ecstasy pills to be smuggled into Malaysia from France. However, while travelling in the train from Holland (where the pills came from) to France, I was ambushed by the
