Singapore Expats

Watched an interesting video from a US law class:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 3865&hl=en

My question is: If I were to be arrested in Singapore may I refuse to talk to the police until I have an attorney present or is it different here than in the US?

Thanks.

Ohhhh, what did you do????

familyof5 wrote:Ohhhh, what did you do????

Well... nuttin' yet... but you never know... could drive 80 over the speed limit... violate the libel laws... spit on the sidewalk.

Yeah very interesting question.

They do have the right to detain you without representation under certain circumstances as far as I remember. That said I am not a lawyer.

Any legal peoples around?

maybe singapore need something like judge judy?

From what I've seen and read over the past 25 years or so, no. They are allowed to both detain you and question you for as long as they want in order to extract the truth (as they see it). You have no rights at all and all lawyers will tell you that they cannot do anything as the government feels that lawyers will cause impedance to the investigation. (one has to wonder at the validity of some of the confessions extracted that way). I believe one of the world bodies has been trying for years to get some evidence on the psy-ops torture used to extract confessions here). The talk about striping people down to their underwear in frigid rooms abound here. About the only thing they don't do is manhandle suspects (physically beating them) but psy-ops is practiced heavily from what I understand. The problems is all we hear is purely anecdotal evidence so we will never really know for sure.

sundaymorningstaple wrote:From what I've seen and read over the past 25 years or so, no. They are allowed to both detain you and question you for as long as they want in order to extract the truth (as they see it). You have no rights at all and all lawyers will tell you that they cannot do anything as the government feels that lawyers will cause impedance to the investigation. (one has to wonder at the validity of some of the confessions extracted that way). I believe one of the world bodies has been trying for years to get some evidence on the psy-ops torture used to extract confessions here). The talk about striping people down to their underwear in frigid rooms abound here. About the only thing they don't do is manhandle suspects (physically beating them) but psy-ops is practiced heavily from what I understand. The problems is all we hear is purely anecdotal evidence so we will never really know for sure.

ok, better not spit on the sidewalk no more. and that goes for strong eagle as well!

You don't have the right to a jury trial either (there are none). Besides, what the law says can always be changed, or glossed over. The sooner you just accept that the government owns you and can do whatever they want with you while you're here, the better off you'll be.

Turtle wrote:You don't have the right to a jury trial either (there are none). Besides, what the law says can always be changed, or glossed over. The sooner you just accept that the government owns you and can do whatever they want with you while you're here, the better off you'll be.

Singapore justice is not blind, if you look at the lady justice in Old Supreme Court building, her eyes seem to be wide open, not blind folded or even closed.

On the other hand that was build by the British.

Or she could be wearing these

sundaymorningstaple wrote:They are allowed to both detain you and question you for as long as they want in order to extract the truth (as they see it). You have no rights at all and all lawyers will tell you that they cannot do anything as the government feels that lawyers will cause impedance to the investigation. (one has to wonder at the validity of some of the confessions extracted that way).

sunday is right. it gets worse depending on who's/re your IO/s and how serious the crime is.

don't depend on an appointed defense lawyer either; they normally get the barest of information/papers and always at the last moment which makes for lousy preparation.

don't get into trouble. you don't have rights even if you're just detained. this is from real accounts i've heard from understudies to 2 popular criminal attorneys in singapore. but on the flip side, it's a good deterrent...

for petty offenses there isn't much to worry about, i don't think!

(27 napier road, pronto, or try snagging a special black passport.)