Regrettable, says MHA, on ex-detainee's claims that Singapore's drug laws are ineffective

SINGAPORE — Former political detainee Teo Soh Lung's claims that the Government's drug laws and policies are ineffective are regrettable, and Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam stands by what he said in Parliament, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

MHA, in a statement on May 17, said Teo, a former lawyer and politician, also appears to imply that in some unspecified way, it was wrong of Shanmugam to make a ministerial statement in Parliament because it confers parliamentary immunity.

Shanmugam, it added, now waives parliamentary immunity for everything said in the ministerial statement.

"If Teo or anyone else feels that the statement's contents are actionable — they can take action," it said.

On May 8, Shanmugam touched on Singapore's drug control policies in a wide-ranging speech in Parliament. He reiterated the reasons for the strict stand against drugs, and the reasons for the policies. He also mapped out plans to tackle drug threats both new and old, especially among the young.

Teo, in a Facebook post on May 12, said the Government's drug laws and policies were ineffective, and that the "problem of drug abuse and drug trafficking has not been solved".

She also claimed that Shanmugam had "attacked various Singaporeans and organisations", and had deliberately singled out a group of activists and accused them of misleading the public.

In his speech on May 8, Shanmugam said Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) directions were issued in May 2023 against 10 social media posts and two online articles for containing false statements about a capital sentence meted out by the courts.

At the time, he said: "The Transformative Justice Collective, Online Citizen Asia, Andrew Loh, Kirsten Han, and M. Ravi continued to make false statements alleging that a person awaiting capital punishment was denied an interpreter during the recording of his statement.

"This despite the court's clear statement to the contrary."

In her Facebook post, Teo also accused Shanmugam of misusing parliamentary privilege, and said former drug abusers and their families were in Parliament to be "entertained by the minister".

MHA said: "We regret these statements. In particular, we regret that Teo thinks so poorly of former drug abusers who are seeking to kick the habit."

Former drug abusers, it added, were invited to celebrate their courage and resilience in their rehabilitation journey, and they were moved by the tribute given to them in Parliament. Many of them are now helping other drug abusers give up drugs.

The families of the former drug abusers were also invited to recognise the critical role that they played in helping their loved ones turn over a new leaf, and all of them were aware of that the media was at the event, the statement said.

"The drug problem cannot be permanently 'solved', as Teo seems to suggest. There will be people who will abuse drugs.

"What we can do is to try and reduce the number, and save as many lives as we can. If we go soft on drugs, the consequences will likely be very bad, with a lot more suffering and deaths," it said.

MHA added that the ministerial statement on Singapore's national drug control policy cited countries that have adopted soft drug control policies and have seen horrific consequences, such as increased overdose rates and brutal drug-related crime and violence.

"The numbers and photographs referred to in the ministerial statement speak for themselves," the statement said.

It added that the ministerial statement also raised the issue of numerous unmeritorious applications that have been filed in some court cases, in a bid to avoid the sentence from being carried out.

"The courts have said on multiple occasions that many court applications filed by or on behalf of capital prisoners, often at the last minute, were unmeritorious or amounted to an abuse of the court's processes.

"Some of these applications were aided by anti-death penalty activists."

In one case, MHA said, the court found an application to be "nothing more than a blatant and impermissible attempt" to obstruct the carrying out of the sentence.

"The family involved in the matter gave to our officers the e-mail of an activist who was helping them, and the minister referred to that.

"Pofma directions have also been issued to some of these activists, for falsehoods relating to these prisoners," it said.

MHA added that the Government will do everything it can to keep Singapore safe and protect the lives of Singaporeans, and that will entail doing its utmost to keep drugs out of Singapore society.

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