What if this happens in Singapore?
After the Public Order Bill has been passed, I wonder what will happen if this happens in Singapore.
In an ideal world, police officers are supposed to uphold the law and order in a fair manner. But we all know that we aren’t living in Utopia. Not all police officers will follow the law. There are bound to be some black sheep in the law enforcement agencies. And the youtube video is just one of the many examples that not all police officers are good guys. In fact, if you were to browse youtube, you will find more of such video. The recent one was during the G20 meeting where Ian Tomlinson was violently pushed by a police officer even though he was just passing by. He collapsed and died of a heart attack a few minutes later.
Some of the victims are fortunate because there are video camera recording nearby. Complains can be lodge and an independent team will investigate into the matter. At least the citizen has a level of protection against rogue police officer. But with the new Public Order Bill, things might change. Police officers now have the power to stop someone filming any law enforcement activity and destroy the video recording on the spot. Failure to do so is a criminal offence.
I’m not saying that I have no confidence in the Singapore Police Force. But having this law in place makes one feels uneasy. What if one day, a police officer did something wrong and they use this law to stop witness from recording the deed? Are we safe? Is there really a need to have this Public Order Bill?
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How do you know that it has not happened behind closed doors already?
SPF is an organisation that has many divisions and not all policemen work in areas seen by the public. If you comb through the noise and rants, you will find some pretty daunting information in there somewhere.
this is old, it’s already happening.
Joe & yongwei92: Eeerrr…. you 2 referring to what? Police beating people or police stopping people from fliming?
I won’t be surprised that it had happened before. Likewise, I won’t be surprised that it would happen in the future. Which is why we need to give the citizen more power to protect ourselves if such incident happens.
Hi DK, I don’t see a link between the video/ Police Brutality, and the Public Order Bill. I know you’re making the video to lead to the subject, but I don’t see a direct linkage. To suggest that the new law will mean the police will be more brutal sounds to me like stretching the point
I’m not saying your concern is not valid (it’s your personal expression of concern). So let me put it this way: no law will ever prevent acts of violence or abuse by the authorities, if the authorities do not respect the law of the land. The way laws are written tends to have some leeway for interpretation, so that it’s not so restrictive to make it ineffective (e.g. criminals getting away with technicalities).
Ultimately, I feel it’s about the level of trust between (1) the citizenry, (2) the authorities that enforces the law, and (3) the legislative body that interprets and passes judgment in accordance with the law.
If the authorities (i.e. police) were to abuse that trust with citizens, then history has shown that eventually unjust laws will not hold. I think Singapore’s track-record shows a consistent high level of trust between majority of the citizenry and the authorities. Just thinking aloud here
Ivan Chew’s last blog post..Thoughts about Creative Commons (CC) and CC adoption in Singapore
hey man,
that wanker in the video is plainly drunk, whether he is a war hero or otherwise, that’s irrelevant.
A drunk Brit wanker approaches 3 police officers on duty, taunts them wif his usual “farkin’, m—fkers bast“ds, ” etc etc. from influence of alcohol.
Tell me, which police wun beat the crap out of him?
and how do we know if he is still carrying on ranting obscenities cussing the police?
Ivan: I think you got me wrong. I’m not saying that the new public order act will results in violence or police brutality. What I’m trying to say is, IF one day there is a black sheep among the police force, and he is to commit something that is against the law, he can actually use the new public order act to stop citizen from recording the process and submit to court.
tribeacc: Even if the drunk guy is ranting obscenities, the police has no rights to hit the person. Absolutely no. They can add more charges against him. But at no time should the police attack someone who isn’t attacking them.
@DK – ah, that. Well bad cops will find ways to abuse their powers, won’t they? In fact,if citizens are clear on the intents of the Public Order law then bad cops are less likely to get away with abuse. I mean, someone is bound to witness and record the event. I think the ultimate enemy is ignorance
Ivan Chew’s last blog post..Thoughts about Creative Commons (CC) and CC adoption in Singapore