Internet
Internet services provided by the three major Internet Service
Providers (ISPs) are subject to regulation by the Media Development
Authority to block websites containing material that may be a
threat to public security, national defense, racial and religious
harmony and public morality, and Police are given broad powers to
intercept messages online. The Ministry of Education, Singapore
blocks access to pornographic and similar objectionable internet
sites on its proxy servers, but this practice is common throughout
the world's educational establishments.
In September 2005, 3 people were arrested and charged with sedition
for posting racist comments on the Internet, of which two have been
sentenced to imprisonment. There are growing fears of the chilling
effect with the increasing threat of legal action, including a
warning by the Teachers' Union to sue students who defame teachers
on their blogs.
Drug
trafficking
Narcotics laws established by the Misuse of Drugs Act are very
strict.
Anyone caught with more than or equal to 15 g (0.5 ounces) of
heroin, 28 g (1 ounce) of morphine or 480 g (17 ounces) of cannabis
faces mandatory capital punishment, as they are deemed to be
trafficking in these substances. The stated quantities are the nett
weight of the substances after they have been isolated by
laboratory analysis. From 1991-2004, 400 people have been hanged in
Singapore, mostly for drug trafficking, the highest per-capita
execution rate in the world. See Singapore Government's response to
accusations regarding its use of capital punishment.
Public
assembly
In Singapore, a police permit is required for holding an assembly
in a public place. Any public assembly or procession of five or
more persons in any public place without a permit is an offence
under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order And Nuisance)
(Assemblies and Processions) Rules. [3]
The rationale given for this law is that a large group of people
who gather for a peaceful purpose can turn violent. In the 1950s
and 1960s, there have been several violent riots in Singapore, the
last incident being the 1964 Race Riots which killed 36 people.
Since then, there have been only a few minor protests. Nonetheless
the authority continues to take a tough stance against unlicensed
outdoor protests. On 31 December 2000, fifteen members of Falun
Gong consisting of thirteen foreigners and two Singaporeans were
arrested at MacRitchie Park for holding an illegal assembly.
[4]
Sexual
offences
Sex deemed by the Government to be "against the order of nature",
including anal sex and oral sex (except as a precursor to
conventional intercourse), is criminalised by section 377 of the
Singapore Penal Code, though the latter has only infrequently been
enforced and is set to change. In practice, private acts between
consenting adults are not the subject matter of prosecution.
Homosexuality in Singapore is not illegal, but homosexual acts are
considered "against the order of nature" as well. Nevertheless,
large-scale outdoor gay parties had been discreetly approved by the
authorities from 2001 to 2004. These parties were advertised
throughout Southeast Asia and attracted a large audience until a
conservative backlash beginning in 2004, attributed to an increase
in HIV infection within the gay community, put a stop to their
official sanctioning and led to their banning.
Prostitution is tolerated in designated red-light districts, but
soliciting for sex in public is illegal. Sexual intercourse with
any girl below the age of sixteen years except by way of marriage
is an offence (Section 140, Women's Charter); if the girl is below
the age of fourteen, it is a statutory rape even with her consent
(Section 375, Penal Code). Punishment for statutory rape shall be
imprisonment not less than 8 years and not more than 20 years and
also punished with caning not less than 12 strokes (Section 376,
Penal Code).
Any man who has carnal knowledge of a woman (grand-daughter,
daughter, sister, half-sister or mother) with or without the
consent or any woman (of age above 16) with or without consent
permits a man (grandfather, father, brother, half-brother or son)
is said to commit incest (Section 376A (a) and (b), Penal Code).
The punishment for incest for males/females shall be imprisonment
of a term up to 5 years and if the woman is found to be under the
age of fourteen, the imprisonment maybe up to 14 years (Section
376B, Penal Code).
Recent
developments
In recent years, the Singapore government has relaxed some of the
stricter laws. For example, bungee jumping is no longer illegal.
There are also several signs that the government is considering
relaxing a number of laws concerning oral sex.
It is of note that while some archaic laws do remain from British
common law, the Public Prosecutor does not ordinarily enforce these
laws. However, in 2004, then-Chief Justice Yong Pung How sentenced
a 25-year-old former policeman, Annis Abdullah, to jail for 12
months for receiving oral sex from a teenage girl. In his statement
he said that despite growing permissiveness in some countries there
were "certain offences that are so repulsive in Asian
culture".
The case concerning an American teenager, Michael P. Fay, generated
intense media interest in the United States after he was caught in
1994 for vandalising cars and stealing street signs in Singapore
and was sentenced to caning. A formal request was made by the
American government not to carry out the sentence, but it was
rejected by the Singapore government although the number of caning
strokes was reduced from 6 to 4.
Film censorship has also been relaxed in Singapore recently. In
1991, the R(A) rating was introduced to allow adult type films that
contain sex and violence to be shown for the first time, for those
aged 18 years and above. The scheme was later replaced by a set of
several ratings for different groups of audience, namely G (General
audience), PG (Parental guidance), NC16 (not for children under
16), M18 (matured 1, and R21 (restricted 21).
DVDs and VCDs rated up to M18 are allowed. In addition, the
country's only cable TV network, StarHub, is allowed to show a
number of previously banned programmes that contain restricted
content, such as Sex and the City, under the ratings NC16 and M18
after 10 pm, with some scenes removed.
On 18 April 2005, the government relaxed the ban on casinos and
allowed the development of two Integrated Resorts with casinos.
Both are expected to open by 2009. However, locals who wish to
enter the casinos must pay a daily entry fee of S$100 or an annual
entry pass of S$2,000. This is to reduce the negative effect of
compulsive gambling in the society. The entry fees will be used to
educate and counsel Singaporeans that have gambling habits. The
government hopes that by having casinos, it will boost the tourism
industry, which has been declining in recent years.
In the last few years, the government has taken a much tougher
stand on Internet-related matters (including Internet censorship as
above-mentioned). Several arrests and seizures have been made on
those who breach the Copyright Law, including three home users who
have been downloading music online. On November 2006, a 17 year old
has been arrested for simply tapping into his neighour's wireless
Internet connection and faces up to 3 years' imprisonment and a
fine under the Computer Misuse Act.[1]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
*Taken from http://www.answers.com/topic/law-of-singapore.
