Committee of Supply 2022 debate, Day 2: K Shanmugam on support for death penalty, ‘best way forward’ on Section 377A
The majority of Singapore residents still support the death penalty and agree that it deters serious crime, Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam told Parliament on Thursday (Mar 3). He cited preliminary findings from a survey conducted last year. Mr Shanmugam said his ministry also commissioned a study involving people in regions where most of Singapore’s arrested drug traffickers came from. Eighty-three per cent of those respondents believed that the death penalty made people not want to traffic substantial amounts of drugs into Singapore. The minister also spoke about Section 377A, which criminalises gay sex. He said the Government is considering the “best way forward” and will examine and respect different viewpoints. If and when it decides to move, he said, it will do so in a way that continues to balance those viewpoints and “avoids causing a sudden, destabilising change in social norms and public expectations”.
The majority of Singapore residents still support the death penalty and agree that it deters serious crime, Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam told Parliament on Thursday (Mar 3). He cited preliminary findings from a survey conducted last year. Mr Shanmugam said his ministry also commissioned a study involving people in regions where most of Singapore’s arrested drug traffickers came from. Eighty-three per cent of those respondents believed that the death penalty made people not want to traffic substantial amounts of drugs into Singapore. The minister also spoke about Section 377A, which criminalises gay sex. He said the Government is considering the “best way forward” and will examine and respect different viewpoints. If and when it decides to move, he said, it will do so in a way that continues to balance those viewpoints and “avoids causing a sudden, destabilising change in social norms and public expectations”.
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