853 Applications for Protection Orders Made From Nov 2014 to Dec 2020; New Dedicated Court to Start Operating This Year

When you go for lunch at the coffee shops or Hawkers centres, you will see bags and pouches left of the seats to ‘chop’ the place.

If you are in a crowded place, you’ll even see some people do not bother to zip their bags for it is more ‘convenient’ that way.

People in Singapore tend to loosen up when it comes to the safety of our items for it is a well-known fact that Singapore is a safe country.

Singapore holds the position of being the second safest city in the world, even managing to clinch the fourth spot during the pandemic.

Despite this commendable status, there’s still some ways to go before being able to ensure the personal safety of all Singaporeans – starting with how our laws are made.

Dedicated Court For Harassment To Be Opened

Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong laid out the budget plans for the Ministry of Law in the Parliament’s debate on 2 March, sharing the progress of the Protection from Harassment Act (Poha) which was first introduced in Nov 2014.

As of 31 Dec last year, close to six years after Poha’s introduction, 853 applications for protection orders were requested for. Those included victims of sexual and workplace harassment, online harassment and harassment by neighbours.

New offences have also been included under the slowly strengthening Poha in recent years, such as offences regarding doxxing, which involves the exposure of someone’s personal and private information in a public domain.

There’s currently no data to analyse the different types of harassment that these protection orders were called upon for, but the State Courts are looking into case management systems that will assist in tracking such details, said Mr Tong.

So far, 348 protection orders had been granted, while 135 cases were sent for mediation and 366 Expedited Protection Orders that provides interim relief to victims were also granted.

Mr Tong commented that this meant relief for two out of every five cases were shown to have been granted with immediate effect. As for the other remaining cases, they were either withdrawn, dismissed or still pending.

Additionally, 29 cases for doxxing were filed in the State Courts as of last year too, following the inclusion of these offences into Poha in 2019.

In light of all these cases over the past few years, a dedicated Protection from Harassment Court will begin operations this year. Judges who are specially trained in dealing with harassment cases and volunteers to help victims with the court processes will make up the manpower there.

“We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the 2019 Poha amendments, and will be able to provide a more holistic assessment after the Poha Court has operated for some time,” Mr Tong added.

Neighbourly Disputes Have Increased

When everyone had to stay home in quarantine during the Circuit Breaker period, interactions with our fellow neighbours also increased by quite a fair bit.

While some managed to get to know their neighbours better and create a friendlier community, others didn’t have such a good experience – leading to a rise in feedback regarding neighbourly nuisance.

Mr Tong viewed the management of disputes between neighbours to be a delicate and challenging area.

“While we endeavor to resolve disputes amicably between the disputing parties, neighbours sometimes refuse to communicate with each other, or to compromise, and this leads to a breakdown in the relationship,” he said.

Those who face such disputes are encouraged to take it up to community mediation centres, where over 80% of cases held at the Community Mediation Centre managed to settle rather peacefully.

591 claims have been filed at the Community Disputes Resolution Tribunal (CDRT) as of last year since its opening in 2015, and Mr Tong held that this avenue should remain as a last resort for disputing parties. Most cases here were resolved from between six months to a year.

The Community Dispute Management Framework is also being reviewed by a committee involving the Ministries of Law, Culture, Community and Youth, National Development and Home Affairs.

They aim to improve the tribunal processes and look for ways in which such neighbourly disputes could be handled better and resolved upfront, as well as how to increase the usage of community mediation services.

Hopefully, with more reforms to ensure Singaporeans’ safety in the face of possible disputes, more would feel safer as well.

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