Below is an extract of a speech given by Ho Peng Kee , Minister of State for Home Affair last year .
Please see para 13 second sentence which is in bold and underlined. Suffice to say that it is not an opinion by Ho Peng Kee.
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05 February 2009
Ministry Of Home Affairs Committee Of Supply Debate 2009- Speech by Senior Minister of State A/P Ho Peng Kee – Striking A Balance, 05February 2009 Let me now address issues relating to foreign workers, treatment of prisoners, vice and loansharking.
Foreign Workers and Public Order
2. Mr Arthur Fong is concerned that foreign workers congregating in large numbers in various parts of Singapore may turn disorderly and cause law and order problems. On the whole, foreign workers living here are law-abiding. While such gatherings may cause some social disamenity, they generally do not disturb the peace or involve unlawful activities.
3. Recent groups of foreign workers gathering at MOM were there primarily to seek assistance to resolve outstanding disputes with their employers, not to cause trouble. MOM officers have helped them with their claims.
4. The vast majority of foreign workers respect our laws. They know that the authorities here are impartial and professional and will look into their grievances. They are aware that if they breach our laws by staging demonstrations or protests, whether at MOM or elsewhere, Police will have to enforce the law and prosecute or repatriate them.
5. I assure Mr Fong that MOM and the Police have been working closely together to enhance the operating protocols for handling such incidents. However, the key is to address this issue upstream. Hence, in January this year, the Acting Minister for Manpower shared in this House that his Ministry has introduced early intervention measures to detect non-payment of salaries and stepped up mediation efforts to ensure that employers honour their obligations to their workers.
6. Interaction between the Police and foreign workers is on-going. Police visits foreign worker dormitories regularly and collaborates with dormitory operators and their security agencies to ensure that the workers maintain good behaviour. Leveraging on CSSP initiatives, foreign workers are apprised of law and order issues and familiarised with our social norms. Some foreign workers are involved as crime prevention ambassadors themselves. Such on-going interaction allows Police to effectively detect and deter potential law and order problems before they escalate. In the event that public order incidents occur, Police will deal with them swiftly and firmly.
Management of Prisoners
7. I now turn to the issue of assaults in our prisons, raised by Ms Sylvia Lim. As the incident Ms Lim mentions is currently before the Courts, I am not able to go into the details of the case. Let me address Ms Lim’s queries generally.
8. Prisons has well-established security procedures for the secure and safe custody of inmates under its charge, such as regular patrols, muster checks, and interviews by Prison officers who act as personal supervisors. Inmates who feel threatened can approach their personal supervisors or any other prisons officer.
9. Our prisons are among the safest in the world. Over the last three years, the number of major assaults on Prison staff and inmates, per 10,000 inmates, was 16 in FY 2005, 15 in FY 2006 and 22 in FY 2007. This is low by international norms. For example, in New Zealand, their figure is 46 assaults per 10,000 inmates.
10. Prison authorities will not tolerate any form of assault by inmates and will spare no effort to ensure that those guilty are brought to task immediately. Whilst Prisons has in place effective security procedures, it is unrealistic to expect Prison authorities to guard against every conceivable eventuality especially given the context of how inmates interact with each other in the prison setting. From time to time, assaults amongst inmates do occur. Inmates are also responsible for their own safety. They should co-operate with Prison authorities by complying with the rules and regulations and not engage in risky behaviour themselves, for example bullying others, that may lead to their own harm. The key point is that inmates who are threatened or in danger have ample channels to seek assistance expeditiously and immediately and that is why there are distress alarms and intercoms in the cells.
11. Mr Chairman, issues which the Home Team deals with are complex. Solutions are often alloyed as there is no answer which pleases everyone. People may agree about law and order but they are not always agreed on how it should be maintained. To what extent should our measures go?
12. Several members have raised issues relating to vice and loansharking. These two issues illustrate how we need to strike a balance between competing considerations. As we do so, we steer by certain fundamental principles, always bearing in mind that our approach must be calibrated, and our solutions pragmatic and workable on the ground.
Managing the Vice Situation
13. Mr De Souza and Dr Lateef raise concern about the vice situation.
As members are aware, prostitution is not an offence in Singapore. We recognise that it is not possible to eradicate it and forcing it underground will lead to the greater likelihood of involvement by triads and organised crime, the trafficking of women, and public health risks.
14. Dr Lateef asks that more be done about the vice situation in Geylang. Substantial Police resources are dedicated to enforcement efforts against prostitutes who solicit in public and pimps who force women into prostitution. Geylang is a key focal area. This is why Police has installed CCTV cameras in Geylang. While CCTVs aid in general crime prevention, they also have the salutary effect of deterring prostitutes from soliciting.
15. Police has intensified enforcement – conducting about 1,450 operations last year and arresting some 5,000 foreigners; in comparison with 950 operations and the arrest of 5,400 foreigners the year before. Such offenders are repatriated from Singapore and banned from re-entering. As for those who force women, local or foreign, into prostitution, we take tough action under our laws against them.
16. Mr De Souza translates the number of vice-related arrests to about 100 each week. We should put this figure in the context of about 190,000 tourists entering Singapore weekly. It is possible to tighten up further on checks and screening on female tourists but this will cause delays and inconvenience and hamper our efforts to promote tourism.
17. Mr De Souza is concerned that vice is spilling into the heartlands. Let me assure him that only 1.35% of the total arrests for vice-related activities were made in our HDB heartlands last year. The Duxton area has very few residential units nearby. It comprises primarily entertainment outlets, and is visited mainly by those who patronise these outlets.
18. I assure Mr De Souza that CID is geared up to counter what he calls a ‘disturbing trend’. CID was re-organised last year into three Specialised Crime Investigation Branches, supported by a Specialised Crime Expert Branch. With this, CID now has a larger pool of trained officers to deploy for anti-vice operations. Also, in November last year, powers under the Women’s Charter were extended to selected Police officers in all Land Divisions, enabling more officers to take on enforcement responsibilities.
