ROAD BULLIES (Measures to stamp out menace)

Mr Abdullah Tarmugi asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether his Ministry is looking into the phenomenon of "road bullies" and what is being done or planned to stamp out this menace.

The Minister for Home Affairs (Prof. S. Jayakumar): Mr Speaker, Sir, my Ministry and the Police have indeed looked into this problem. In June 1990, I announced that the Police intended to be firm against people who take the law into their own hands and resort to violence, whether on the roads, in shopping centres or elsewhere.

In fact, it is in pursuance of that policy that the Police decided to prosecute the more serious cases of road bullies, instead of the victims having to take out private summonses. The cases which have come up in the courts recently and which have received extensive publicity are the result of such Police action.

The action taken against road bullies and the extensive publicity has encouraged more members of the public to come forward to report such cases. Correspondingly, more offenders are now being prosecuted. In 1991, 35 persons were charged which is almost double the figure for 1989.

Depending on the facts of the case, offenders can be charged for different offences under the law. The penalties provided by law range from a maximum fine of $1,000 and imprisonment not exceeding one year for voluntarily causing hurt and a maximum fine of $10,000 and imprisonment not exceeding seven years for the offence of causing grievous hurt. These maximum penalties give sufficient leeway to the courts to impose deterrent sentences. Indeed, in quite a number of cases, the courts have meted out custodial sentences.

The Police will continue their enforcement policy and they will press for deterrent sentences in all such cases. Where they consider the sentence given by the court to be inadequate, they will approach the Attorney-General's Chambers to appeal against the decision.

My Ministry and the Police will monitor the trend of such cases to assess if any further measures or other penalties need to be introduced.

Mr Abdullah Tarmugi (Bedok GRC): Sir, is the Ministry considering harsher measures to prevent such behaviour, because there have been calls from the public to have more severe penalties to stop such behaviour?

Prof. Jayakumar: I am glad to know that the public is concerned about this because that was one of the objectives of the Police in prosecuting and publicising these cases. As I mentioned in the closing part of my answer, we will indeed consider further measures if the trend of cases warrants it. For example, I am prepared to consider proposing an amendment to the law where the offending driver, for instance, could be disqualified from having his driving licence. That is one of the possible penalties.