there is definitely a decline in moral standards in singapore
whether criminals or not!
Better education,
Smarter criminals
A decline in street crimes; replaced by big-money white-collar
offences.
By Seah Chiang Nee, littlespeck.com
Jan 27, 2007
THE rapid transformation of Singapore into a global city with a
large influx of foreigners has resulted in social disruptions, but
a feared upsurge in crime is not one of them.
This is one of the better stories to emerge from this rapidly
changing country and its fast-rising population in recent
years.
Newsweek last week succinctly asked a question that is in the mind
of many people: The island's economy is booming. So why are so
many citizens worse off than they were 10 years ago?
The cause is a rising level of poverty and a stagnating middle
class income in the past five years while costs have gone up
all of which had raised fears that crime would dramatically
worsen.
Besides, new technology today allows crooks from abroad to cheat
the unwary without even setting foot here.
Well, miraculously it hasnt happened.
In fact, the latest police statistics showed a significant 10%
decline in crime in 2006, with cases falling from 37,093 (in 2005)
to 33,393.
They covered all index crimes, especially rioting, housebreaking,
robbery and cheating as well as car theft, most of which are
usually associated with poverty.
Even mobile phone crimes, the 21st century curse, fell. Youth
offences, which account for one-fifth of the total, dropped by
30%.
Singapores pattern of crime has been changing in the past 20 years
in tandem with the rise in education, wealth and new
technology.
But as criminals became worldly-wise, the trend has ostensibly
moved from violent offences, which bring less money and stronger
punishment, to more profitable white-collar crimes.
They include fraud, product piracy, deception, commercial scams,
computer offences, and bribery.
There are fewer hard drug offenders, secret society members
(replaced by teenage gangs) and robbery syndicates which used to
operate in large numbers during the less developed era.
Today the crooks are more likely to be suit-wearing CEOs and
directors, lawyers, bankers or computer experts who dine in
five-star hotels and travel first-class.
According to the latest statistics, computer crimes (unheard of 20
years ago) now number about 60 a year.
A new breed of white-collar criminals has been grabbing world
headlines in recent years, stirring its very core tenet of
protecting investors interests.
One of Singapores selling points has been its low-crime, stable
environment for businessmen and citizens.
Recent instances of misuse of funds amounting to tens of millions
of dollars by CEOs of charity bodies have dealt corporate image and
trust a serious blow.
Some mega-frauds include the following:
·Singapore Airlines supervisor Toe Cheng Kyat embezzled some
S$35mil (RM80.5mil) from his company. He was sentenced to 24 years'
jail;
·A bigger cheat, casino high-roller Chia Teck Leng, an executive of
Asia Pacific Breweries (Singapore) was found guilty of cheating
four banks, siphoning off a staggering A$190mil (RM513mil). His
crime spree spread over four years;
·Next Kwek Chee Tong, 53, former managing director of public-listed
Kian Ho Bearings, got nine years' jail for misappropriating more
than S$5mil (RM11.5mil) of company money;
·In 2004 China Aviation Oil (CAO) chief executive Chen Jiulin was
sentenced to 51 months' jail in connection with the companys
US$550mil (RM1.9bil) trading scandal; and
·Earlier, Nick Leeson, a 28-year-old derivatives trader at the
Singapore office of Barings PLC, Britains oldest merchant bank,
lost over US$1.4bil (RM4.9bil) betting on Nikkei futures. It wiped
out the bank's equity capital.
Not all white-collar thieves are managers or the well-heeled; the
majority, in fact, are ordinary employees like clerks, IT workers
or bank employees who have something in common, the trust of the
company.
Some time ago, for example, a secretary was convicted of forging
more than 70 cheques totalling S$1.5mil (RM3.45mil) over two years
and was jailed six-and-a-half years.
This trend indicates that, unlike many developing countries, the
crime motivation in Singapore has more to do with human greed than
poverty. But it also marks a decline in moral standards.
Secondly, the influx of foreigners has had an impact on crime since
they caused 19% of it, but this was less than popularly believed.
Foreigners make up 28% of the population.
Singapore has always taken a tough punitive stand on the belief
that crime and the ambition to be a global hub cannot live side by
side.
So has the spate of major commercial cases cut business
trust?
In a 2005 global survey, international PricewaterhouseCoopers
looked into the impact of rising commercial crime on international
business confidence, and has a section on Singapore.
Fraud (is) a significant and growing threat worldwide, the survey
said in a synopsis.
The survey found that 45% (2003: 37%) of international companies
reported having suffered fraud in the last two years. The number of
victim companies rose by 22% since 2003.
Singapore was in better shape, with only 16% of companies surveyed
reporting having fallen victim compared with 39%
region-wide.
The republic saw a sharp 50% decline in the number of victim firms;
two years ago it was 32%.
Although the numbers are down, the survey found the republic
recording the biggest frauds (in money terms) than most countries
in the world, on a per capita basis.
The average cost of economic crime in Singapore was US$4mil
(RM14mil), significantly higher than the global and regional
averages of US$1.7mil (RM5.95mil) and US$1.6mil (RM5.6mil), said
the global professional services firm.
With the proposed large foreign influx, the future could change
when its population reaches seven million in 20 years.
And the social impact of becoming a casino city remains
uncertain.
