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

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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.

[cyborg]

awwww... congrats on mini-moleman :-)

[mhking]

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[LuLuLuLu]

Mr. Lu has visited Singapore a couple of times for business, and tells tales of "full body" massages.

Apparently, the licensed people over there don't stint on certain muscle groups, and from what I've heard, the male anatomy responds. Rather than send them on their way to do something unlawful, the man being massaged is, um... "relieved" of his tension.

He's been honest about everything else, so I take this as truth.

[TheAngryClam]

I bet that some freepers out there read this and thought "Heaven yeah!" (Can't say hell, now can they?)

[CheneyChick]

i say subject him to hard labor.

Or just cane him. It's the Singaporean way....

[LisaMalia]

Is that a diagram of Slick Willie gettin' kinky in the Oval Office?????????

[ColdSteelTalon]

And they also need a visit from the famous Colonel Angus.

[Mark17]

Cosmopolitan magazine since that's all they talk about lately

LOL, really? I did not know that. You know I just returned from a very conservative country, where no one talks about it, but everyone does it. I am planning on moving there sometime.

[MitchellC]

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

I swear, it sounds like Beavis & Butt-Head dialogue...

"Huh huh huh... they said 'stiff.'"

"Mm heh heh heh... Yeah! Yeah!"

[cyborg]

I like reading Cosmo. Cosmo seems to want to teach women things just for the sake of knowing it, so women can brag about how much they know. It's all very selfish IMHO.

I think America is very hypcritical and schizophrenic about sex. Also, yes there are countries where sex isn't on public display but every one is doing it. Oh well...

[BSunday]

I wonder how the government knew this happened?"

Since it was oral sex, do you suppose he talked about it?

Maybe the girlfriend responded to a poll.