SINGAPORE: Commercial sex with someone under 18 will be made a crime under the law, and this extends beyond Singapore's borders.

This means Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents going on a child sex tour will be prosecuted. Organisers and promoters of child sex tours will also be taken to task.

The proposed changes are part of a comprehensive review of Singapore's Penal Code.

It is the first massive review of the criminal laws and penalties in Singapore since 1984.

The Home Affairs Ministry, in tabling the amendments in Parliament on Monday, said the proposed changes are intended to protect young persons of both sexes against exploitation and providing sexual services at a tender age of 18 as their consent could be impaired due to their immaturity and vulnerability.

The Ministry said that as society changes with time, the legal system too needs to reflect current realities. This means the laws need to stay ahead of criminals and the nature of crime.

Out of some 360 offences reviewed, penalties for nearly 60 percent of them have been left unchanged.

Those being amended involve either enhancing, reducing or expanding the range of penalties.

This is to provide the courts with greater sentencing discretion to mete out appropriate sentences and to reflect developments in crime trends.

Several new offences have also been included as criminal acts in the proposed bill.

One example is sexual acts committed against minors and persons with mental disability. For this group, the bill makes it explicitly clear that it is a crime to have oral and anal sexual acts with them.

The Penal Code review will also cater to a new security climate.

Ilustrations will be inserted into the laws to provide greater clarity with respect to the legality of actions by the security forces under certain extreme threat scenarios in the prevailing security environment.

The illustrations pertain to potential suicide bombers, a hostile vessel ramming against another vessel, and an apparently hijacked vessel that may be used on a suicide mission to cause harm to innocent human lives in other boats or on a wharf.

The Ministry stressed that such illustrations do not accord additional powers to the security forces. However, they provide greater certainty to and in turn greater operational confidence in our security forces to take the necessary actions to neutralise security threats.

The Penal Code review also addresses the challenge of preserving racial and religious harmony in the context of a globalised world, which faces the threat of religious extremism.

Words and gestures done with deliberate intent to wound the racial or religious feelings of any person will now be dealt with. A new section will also be introduced to prevent the deliberate promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and race.

And anyone who abets an offence outside Singapore can also be tried by Singapore courts.

The Ministry explained that given the transnational nature of crime today, it is necessary to ensure that those who seek to promote criminal acts in Singapore from the safety of being outside Singapore, can be brought to justice if and when they are found here.

Examples showing the need to enact such a provision include when a person who, outside Singapore, plans or instigates a crime to be carried out in Singapore by other people in Singapore or sends drugs into Singapore which are distributed by other people.

The second reading of the Penal Code Amendment Bill is expected during next month's Parliament sitting. - CNA/ir