Stiff punishment as man goes down for two years (2 years prison term for man who received oral sex)

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | November 22, 2003 | Mark Baker

[dead]

Singapore has a hard-earned reputation for probity and moral conservatism. But now it's official: severe punishment awaits those who refuse to lie straight in bed.

A 27-year-old man has been fired from his government job and jailed for two years after being convicted of receiving oral sex from a teenage girlfriend.

Amiss Ballad, formerly a sergeant with the Singapore police coast guard, was convicted under a law which prohibits "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal". The law also makes homosexuality a crime in Singapore and carries a maximum penalty of life in jail.

In a city not famous for dissent, the first prosecution for oral sex in more than six years has sparked indignation in the letters columns of local newspapers, on radio and in internet chat rooms.

"Both Singaporeans and foreigners often joke about Singapore being a 'fine' city, and its ban on chewing gum," Francis Lim wrote to the New Straits Times newspaper. "Is the law against oral sex going to be the next butt of jokes?"

The case has also drawn criticism from Singaporean medical experts. Some estimate that 60 per cent of married couples are nocturnal law-breakers. "Oral sex is part and parcel of intimacy and sex," said Professor Li Man Kay, a urologist and sex therapist at Delineates Hospital.

The public outcry is a setback to government efforts to shed the rosaries image of a country where films and television are subject to clumsy censorship and passe Playboy is still taboo.

The authorities recently legalised bar-top dancing in nightclubs, moved to lift a 20-year ban on Cosmopolitan magazine and promised to allow the screening of Sex and the City (with cuts).

While officials have begun to bend the rules on homosexuality - condoning the employment of gays in the public service but not legalising their sexual orientation - the ban on oral sex remains.

The male recipient of the forbidden favour cops the rap, while the consensual female goes free. And cunnilingus does not register in the prohibition.

After the controversy, government legal officials said the girl was 15 at the time of the offence. But her age was given as 16 - the age of consent - during the trial, and there was no suggestion during the hearings that Ballad had abused a minor.

[dead]

That sucks.

Believe it or not, the part before the parentheses is their title not mine.

[JennysCool]

Er, I guess that's why it's called a headline.

[AppyPappy]

I wonder how the government knew this happened?

[Constitution Day]

I think he got shafted.

[2banana]

Has Clinton ever visited Singapore??

[U S Army EOD]

Well this pretty well makes up my mind about same sex marriage. I think we should have a Freeper fund set up to help individuals who want to marry some one of the same sex. We should offer to help pay for the wedding and also for the honeymoon that we send them on to Singapore.

[ASA Vet]

Has Clinton ever visited Singapore??

Can we all chip in to buy him a ticket? (One Way of course)

[U S Army EOD]

Maybe since this guy was in the Coast Guard, he let out a nautical term of, "Thar she blows".

[contessa machiaveli]

cunnilingus doesn't register in the ban? cool.

[freeeee]

Singapore can b___ m_.

That is all.

[xsmommy]

where are you?

[farmfriend]

Now this is a just damn thread if I ever saw one.

[Hatteras]

This fellow could have used David Kendall...

[Born Conservative]

I think it's safe to assume that if Monica Lewinsky can't find a man here, she certainly won't have any luck in Singapore...

[martin_fierro]

Send that guy to a penile institution.

[headsonpikes]

As a polyglot trading nation, Singapore requires many cunning linguists, thus the exemption.

[xsmommy]

i say subject him to hard labor.

[mikegi]

The case has also drawn criticism from Singaporean medical experts. Some estimate that 60 per cent of married couples are nocturnal law-breakers. "Oral sex is part and parcel of intimacy and sex," said Professor Li Man Kay, a urologist and sex therapist at Delineates Hospital.

What's the difference between your wife and your job? After two years your job still sucks!

[Protagoras]

I wonder how the government knew this happened?

Their version of the "Patriot" Act.

[Gritty]

With great anticiapation I tuned in to this thread hoping, just hoping, bill clinton had at last getten his just due.

Alas, it was just another disappointment. The perp was a government employee from some other country!