unAWARE: How feminists failed to fathom Singapore’s anti-molestation campaign, according to Martin Luther King Jr.
Singapore’s anti-molestation campaign has drawn flak from AWARE, a local feminist group. I explore a brief history of Singapore’s approach to crime and punishment, and let Martin Luther King Jr. explain — mostly in his own words — why AWARE’s aversion to “putting a price tag on sexual violence” is misguided.
Big Carrot, Big Stick.
Singapore — the tiny island nation whose crime rate is so low that the local police have to literally remind residents that — yes, crime is still a thing. But as anyone familiar with the city-state, will tell you, how Singapore got here is the stuff of urban legend.
From its record-smashing fines going as high as $19,800 for throwing cigarette butts out of a flat window, or $300 for shooting 2 rubber bands onto a public road — to its grim stance on executing drug mules.
The “carrot-and-stick” logic is simple — perhaps even simplistic. Make something so outrageously costly and, the theory goes, people will simply stop doing it. This rational-choice model of human motivation characterizes much of Singapore’s policy-making.
Fail your compulsory annual military fitness test? You’ll have to report to an army camp for mandatory gym classes until you pass. Try to dodge and you risk a fine, and possibly even military jail. But pass the test and you walk home with as much as a cool $500. Big carrot, big stick.
The “Price Tag” Posters.
Amid a recent wave of high-profile public molestation cases, Singapore’s law enforcement agency has once again trotted out the same time-tested “carrot-and-stick” approach to crime prevention. A series of posters plastered in subway stations show a price tag strung to a would-be molesters’ wrist — showing the penalty to be paid for the crime.
AWARE — Singapore’s “leading gender equality advocacy group”, rallied the social justice brigade — not in support of the police’s anti-molestation campaign — but against it. Reducing molestation to a price to be paid, they cried, turns crime into a commodity. Like Banksy’s million-dollar graffiti, Louis Vuittons’ $32,000 hammock, or a $100,000 bottle of mineral water — putting a price on sexual violence only elevates it onto the list of the world’s most expen$ivest sh*t privy only for the consumption of the global, gold-chain, Gucci-gang, 1% elite.
Or does it?
Martin Luther King Jr. — On Laws & Morals
A black preacher and civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr. fought hard in his day against racial discrimination. But as with all the great orators of history, MLK’s words continue to illuminate how we frame the problems we face today.
In a 1963 speech, MLK explained the role of legislation in society. I have simply re-contextualized an excerpt of that speech to address the allegations AWARE has made against the Singapore police’s “price tag” posters.
“…Now the other myth that gets around is the idea that legislation cannot really solve the problem and that it has no great role to play in this period of social change because you’ve got to change the heart and you can’t change the heart through legislation. You can’t legislate morals. The job must be done through education ……
Well, there’s half‐truth involved here. Certainly, if the problem is to be solved then in the final sense, hearts must be changed……education must play a great role in changing the heart.
But we must go on to say that while it may be true that morality cannot be legislated, behavior can be regulated.
It may be true that the law cannot change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless.
It may be true that the law cannot make a man (respect) me but it can keep him from (violating) me and I think that is pretty important, also. [APPLAUSE]”
Depending on who you ask around the world, Singapore’s “carrot-and-stick” approach to social engineering has either produced a dystopian hell, or a utopian paradise. According to Wired; its a peculiar combination of both: “Disneyland with the Death Penalty”, it wrote in an editorial in 1993.
But what no one disputes is what it has achieved. For the price it has paid in blood and treasure, Singapore has earned the title of being the safest city in the world to live in, according to Gallup’s latest Global Law and Order Report.
From the imaginary heights of their moral high-horse, AWARE fails to recognize that it is upon this very foundation of strong laws, and effective enforcement, that they are able to enjoy the sheer privilege of being able to shame the local police for not talking about changing hearts and minds.
May we never forget, that in the final analysis — it is these twin pillars of law and enforcement upon which all the other trappings of civilized society, stand.
“ Only think: if there were no laws and no institutions that administer law, life would be very insecure. The strong would prey on the weak, might would be right, we would have to be on constant guard against the depredations of others. But civilisation flourishes where laws provide protection against the excesses of a situation where “everyone has to look out for himself”, for the existence of law presupposes forethought, discussion, negotiation, compromise, agreement, mutual responsibility and acceptance of the rights and interests of others. These things are the basis of community, and make it possible for most people to live together most of the time in harmony.”
— AC Grayling, What Makes Us Human?
