'It's our duty to protect our young': President Halimah calls for review of law allowing rapists over 50 to avoid caning

SINGAPORE – President Halimah Yacob has called for a review of the law on caning for rapists over the age of 50.

In a Facebook post on Monday (Dec 19), she highlighted the recent spate of rapes involving children in their own homes by relatives, calling it “disturbing and sickening”.

Under the law, men over the age of 50 are spared the cane.

Madam Halimah wrote in her post: “Rapists should not be spared the cane just because they are 50 years old. It’s ironic that they could escape from the pain caused by caning despite the lifetime of severe trauma and irreparable damage that they cruelly inflicted on their victims which will last a lifetime.”

She noted that there were some cases in which the rapes were committed earlier but reported only after the rapist was over 50 years of age.

“It’s timely that we review this law,” wrote Madam Halimah.

She said there was a need to better protect children from sexual predators.

She also said that severe punishments for offenders are important but insufficient on their own, and that there was a need for more ways to prevent children from falling prey to rapists.

Madam Halimah expressed concern that there could be more of such cases that have gone unreported, adding: “I can’t even begin to imagine how much pain and damage these young victims had to suffer.”

She noted that there was a pattern among the reported cases; the victims were groomed from a very young age by the predators, who were their fathers, stepfathers or other male relatives, so they would think that the acts committed against them were normal.

Several victims discovered that such acts were wrong only when they attended sex education classes much later in school.

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“The sex predators preyed on their innocence to persuade the victims that the perversion was all right. Some victims were reluctant to complain about the rapes for fear of breaking up the family or losing the main breadwinner. Others were threatened and intimidated into silence,” Madam Halimah said.

“Imagine the terror and vulnerability of a child stuck in a home that’s supposed to be a sanctuary but became a living hell instead.”

Madam Halimah added that organisations like social services agency Pave deal with domestic violence and are doing good work.

She expressed the hope that they could work with the relevant government agencies and find ways to better protect children from sexual abuse in the home.

“It’s our duty to protect our young and we must not fail them,” said Madam Halimah.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.