<TABLE id=msgUN border=0 cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top>Coffeeshop Chit Chat - SPGs campaign against marital rape!!</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>12:45 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 6) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>17213.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>Campaign against marital rape picks up steam
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Over 1,000 have signed petition; organisers hope to collect 10,000 signatures before submitting plea </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Tan Dawn Wei
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Ms Wong Pei Chi (left) and two friends researched marital rape and set up the notorape.com website, a Facebook group and a Twitter account. With her is TV host Anita Kapoor, one of those who signed the online petition. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A campaign to make marital rape a crime is gathering steam on the Internet. More than 1,000 people have signed a petition that will be handed to the Prime Minister.
The organisers of the 'No To Rape' campaign - three young professionals - are asking the Government to abolish a controversial law that grants immunity to husbands who force their wives to have sex with them. Signatories of the petition launched on July 1 include former Nominated MP Siew Kum Hong , law academic Chan Wing Cheong, playwright Ovidia Yu and TV host Anita Kapoor.
Several religious leaders, including the Venerable Shravasti Dhammika of the Buddha Dhamma Mandala Society, the Reverend Yap Kim Hao of Free Community Church and Father Paul Staes of the Catholic Church, are supporting the movement.
The issue was a hot topic in and out of Parliament when the Penal Code came under review two years ago. MPs and civil society groups had called for the exemption to be thrown out. The statute, handed down from colonial days, was tweaked then to offer some protection to a married woman under certain circumstances, such as when she has applied for divorce or a personal protection order.
But that was clearly not enough for the organisers.
'The reason we're seeking a change in law is that the current provisions are inadequate,' said Ms Wong Pei Chi, 25, a bank officer and one of the organisers. She said any rape is a physical assault.
Since the legal review two years ago, Ms Wong and two friends - Ms Jolene Tan, 26, a charity fund-raiser based in Britain, and Mr Mark Wong, 28, a freelance designer - began to research the topic and put the campaign together. They have since launched a website, notorape.com, started a Facebook group and are on Twitter.
In their research, the trio found that while there are no statistics on marital rape cases in Singapore, police figures showed that in an overwhelming majority of rapes, the victims knew the attackers. The number of legal protection orders taken up here - 2,500 in 2007 - also suggested marital rape could be an issue.
One victim, a mother of three, said she had no recourse during her 12-year marriage, which ended in 1997 when she walked out. 'I hope the law can be changed to protect all women,' said the 57-year-old secretary, who declined to be named.
Ms Kerry Wilcock, manager of direct services at women's welfare organisation the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware), said many women here are unfamiliar with their rights and do not usually seek help for marital rape.
She has seen only one case recently - a Chinese national in her 30s married to a Singaporean man who sexually abused her every night.
'The authorities see rape as a seizable offence only after physical violence has happened in a marriage. That's the problem now,' said Ms Wilcock.
Lawyers and activists have argued that the statute allowing for marital immunity is based on an archaic law upholding conjugal rights.
But in a 2007 interview with The Straits Times, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said the law has to be mindful about intruding into the relationship between man and wife. There was also concern that manipulative wives could abuse the law to get back at their husbands.
Lawyer and women's rights activist Anamah Tan said that even if the law is in place, policing it will prove to be a challenge. The prosecution has to prove the offence occurred beyond a reasonable doubt.
'If both parties are separated, then it is quite clear. But if they are still living together, do you take one person's word against the other...There lies the grey area,' she said.
Asian places like Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand have criminalised marital rape.
The organisers hope to collect 10,000 signatures for their petition before submitting it in October.
[email protected]
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Over 1,000 have signed petition; organisers hope to collect 10,000 signatures before submitting plea </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Tan Dawn Wei
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Ms Wong Pei Chi (left) and two friends researched marital rape and set up the notorape.com website, a Facebook group and a Twitter account. With her is TV host Anita Kapoor, one of those who signed the online petition. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A campaign to make marital rape a crime is gathering steam on the Internet. More than 1,000 people have signed a petition that will be handed to the Prime Minister.
The organisers of the 'No To Rape' campaign - three young professionals - are asking the Government to abolish a controversial law that grants immunity to husbands who force their wives to have sex with them. Signatories of the petition launched on July 1 include former Nominated MP Siew Kum Hong , law academic Chan Wing Cheong, playwright Ovidia Yu and TV host Anita Kapoor.
Several religious leaders, including the Venerable Shravasti Dhammika of the Buddha Dhamma Mandala Society, the Reverend Yap Kim Hao of Free Community Church and Father Paul Staes of the Catholic Church, are supporting the movement.
The issue was a hot topic in and out of Parliament when the Penal Code came under review two years ago. MPs and civil society groups had called for the exemption to be thrown out. The statute, handed down from colonial days, was tweaked then to offer some protection to a married woman under certain circumstances, such as when she has applied for divorce or a personal protection order.
But that was clearly not enough for the organisers.
'The reason we're seeking a change in law is that the current provisions are inadequate,' said Ms Wong Pei Chi, 25, a bank officer and one of the organisers. She said any rape is a physical assault.
Since the legal review two years ago, Ms Wong and two friends - Ms Jolene Tan, 26, a charity fund-raiser based in Britain, and Mr Mark Wong, 28, a freelance designer - began to research the topic and put the campaign together. They have since launched a website, notorape.com, started a Facebook group and are on Twitter.
In their research, the trio found that while there are no statistics on marital rape cases in Singapore, police figures showed that in an overwhelming majority of rapes, the victims knew the attackers. The number of legal protection orders taken up here - 2,500 in 2007 - also suggested marital rape could be an issue.
One victim, a mother of three, said she had no recourse during her 12-year marriage, which ended in 1997 when she walked out. 'I hope the law can be changed to protect all women,' said the 57-year-old secretary, who declined to be named.
Ms Kerry Wilcock, manager of direct services at women's welfare organisation the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware), said many women here are unfamiliar with their rights and do not usually seek help for marital rape.
She has seen only one case recently - a Chinese national in her 30s married to a Singaporean man who sexually abused her every night.
'The authorities see rape as a seizable offence only after physical violence has happened in a marriage. That's the problem now,' said Ms Wilcock.
Lawyers and activists have argued that the statute allowing for marital immunity is based on an archaic law upholding conjugal rights.
But in a 2007 interview with The Straits Times, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said the law has to be mindful about intruding into the relationship between man and wife. There was also concern that manipulative wives could abuse the law to get back at their husbands.
Lawyer and women's rights activist Anamah Tan said that even if the law is in place, policing it will prove to be a challenge. The prosecution has to prove the offence occurred beyond a reasonable doubt.
'If both parties are separated, then it is quite clear. But if they are still living together, do you take one person's word against the other...There lies the grey area,' she said.
Asian places like Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand have criminalised marital rape.
The organisers hope to collect 10,000 signatures for their petition before submitting it in October.
[email protected]
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