Flavours Of Justice In Singapore

The 49-year-old slapper who was finally charged in court after 2 whole weeks - the equivalent of light years in internet time - said he “wanted the assault to be publicised so that the world at large would know." He should have learnt from his young victim that a less painful way to achieve instant fame is to post a YouTube video.

Whatever his motivations, the man pleaded to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt by forcefully slapping the left side of the teenager’s face, causing him to suffer pain. The arresting authorities must have assumed physical pain, evidenced by the red swelling obvious in the widely circulated photo images. Psychological trauma, due to being shackled in cuffs and chains, matter not to these sadistic types. The legal issue worthy of note here is that voluntarily causing hurt is a non-arrestable offence in Singapore.

Upon arrival at the scene, the police is supposed to assess the situation and determine whether the fracas involving a crime is categorised as an arrestable offence under the First Schedule of the Criminal Procedure Code. Which explains why many taxi drivers at the receiving end of a drunken passenger's fist often wonder if being a punching bag is written into their job description.

The following are some examples of arrestable offences:

1. Unlawful assemblies or rioting
2. Impersonation of a public servant
3. Obstructing a public servant in his duties, or threatening a public servant
4. Affray (Fighting in public places)
5. Fouling the water of a public spring or reservoir
6. Driving rashly or negligently
7. Obscene acts in public
8. Rape
9. Theft and robbery
10. Criminal trespass
11. Assault or use of criminal force to a person with intent to outrage modesty (molest)
12. Acts or attempts that cause or can cause death, including suicide, murder, or other rash acts
13. Voluntarily causing grievous hurt
14. Voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon

Maybe it was grievous hurt (item 13) that prompted the police to take action. More likely it has to be the potential political fallout following should the assailant be let off easy. But that would make it hard to explain why a decorated grassroots leader is permitted to make well publicised threats of physical violence without losing sleep. Almost as hard as explaining why Yaacob Ibrahim is saying the evidence for shutting down a website is in hand when the court case has yet to be convened.