Singapore is consistently ranked near the top in most surveys of safest places to live in. Law and order is exceptionally well managed and justice is delivered fairly swiftly.
People living in Singapore have realized and now strongly believe that crime doesn't pay and that a criminal cannot hope to get away with it. How does a society bring about and then reinforce such a belief without becoming a Stasi state like the erstwhile East Germany? How has Singapore managed to remain a democracy and yet instilled discipline and fear of law among the citizenry and visitors?
Apart from the efficient and effective administration, I believe there is another subtler thing at play. If you scan the local newspapers, you will notice that crime is indeed low. News about crime, if any is restricted to disagreements among neighbours getting out of hand and ending in a brawl or about theft, and hence does not make the front page. Once in a long while, one reads about vandalism of public or private property and very rarely about homicide.
Perhaps more important, is how the swift legal action and the stiff judicial penalty is reported; i.e. on the front page. The signal to the populace is very clear. This place does not tolerate nonsense.
India might do well to speed up the justice system and consider the abysmal conviction rates in our society. Something needs to change. And soon.
1 comment:
One important thing about the democracy in singapore is that there has been single party ruling there since its independence. the opposition is weak or ruling party is really very good or opposition has been systematically kept weak. But swift action and prompt judiciary have done wonders for them.
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