The War on Drugs > Singapore serious in war on drugs - vapes and Kpods have consequences even for tourists

 

Singapore to increase fines, threaten caning

for vape users

By Andrew Sookdeo

   

Singapore introduced new penalties for vaping, including increased fines and caning. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Singapore on Thursday introduced higher fees and the threat of caning as punishments for vaping in an effort to crack down on the use of drug-laced vapes.

The increased penalties will take effect on Sept. 1, the same day that Singapore will classify 15 etomidate -- an anaesthetic agent found in Kpods, or vapes laced with drugs -- will be reclassified as a Class C drugs.

The new penalties will increase fines for people younger than 18 caught using non-drug-laced vapes for the first time from about $233 to roughly $389, while fines for people older than 18 will increase from about $389 to approximately $545.

A second offense will carry a penalty of three months in rehab, with the threat of prosecution for failing to attend, while a third offense will result in prosecution and potential fine of up to about $1,559.

The Ministry of Health and of Home Affairs said the new penalties will include caning, fines starting at $300 for people younger than 18 and $500 older than 18, alongside longer jail terms if caught vaping and required rehabilitation.

Kpod users face the same penalties, along with the potential to be prosecuted and fined up to nearly $7,800 a two-year jail sentence or both.

Drug-laced vape suppliers will face up to 15 strokes of the cane and 20 years in jail.

Foreigners and tourists will also face the same penalties, but may also be deported from the country.

Singapore initially banned vaping in 2018, but is introducing the new penalties to combat the rising use of Kpods.

"Vapes have become a gateway for very serious substance abuse," said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung when he introduced the new laws.

Kung also said during a press conference that 80% of etomidate abusers are younger than 30.

"Being largely young and probably ignorant, we think they are different from hardcore drug abusers, and they may be more open to giving up," he said.

Other countries such as the U.K., Belgium and Australia have all made stiffer rules on vaping.

Saudi Arabia Takes Two Curious Steps Into the 20th Century

Saudi TV airs controversial new series about

Jewish woman in the Gulf, in Ramadan

Saudi TV airs controversial new series about Jewish woman in the Gulf. The MBC TV drama series Umm Haroun. (Facebook/MBC)

Controversial Arab TV series that provoked angry responses airs the first episode about the life of a Jewish woman in the Gulf states during the 1940s and opens with a monologue from the protagonist – in Hebrew.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

The new Saudi-produced television series “Umm Haroun” that has provoked a storm in the Arab world went on the air at the start of Ramadan featuring an impressive monologue in Arabic-accented Hebrew by the protagonist, Channel 12 reported Sunday.

The new drama on the Arab network MBC sparked controversy because of the subject matter – the life of a Jewish woman living in a Arab lands – and was slammed by critics claiming that any portrayal of Jews is a capitulation to Zionism.

Produced by the London-based Saudi-owned Middle East Broadcasting Company (MBC), the show “Umm Haroun” features well-known Kuwaiti actress Hayat al-Fahad, 71, in the role of a Jewish midwife and nurse, The Jerusalem Post reported.

“Before our footsteps fade away and before our lives fall into memory, we will be lost with the time that is left,” the leading character says. “On the staff of Moses that performed miracles, I decided to write about us and we knew that you would come back to us, I write and document everything about us. We are the gulf Jews we were born in the lands of the gulf.”

The show’s promotional trailers and ads had already provoked accusations from the Arab world that Saudi Arabia is engaging in normalization with Israel.

“The story of the series sparked a lot of controversy among followers of social networking sites, after a promo was published of the series that tells the story of a Jewish mother who is suffering because of her Judaism in the Gulf during the 1940s,” the Saudi24 news website reported.

The Hamas terror group fumed over the show, calling the series a “political and cultural attempt to introduce the Zionist project to Gulf society.”

“The character of Umm Haroun reminds me of [former Israeli Prime Minister] Golda Meir, the head of the occupation government, who was a murderous criminal,” The Jerusalem Post quoted senior Hamas official Ra’fat Murra.

“This is the goal of normalization: hatred, slow killing and internal destruction. The series aims to falsify history and gradually introduce Gulf society to normalization with the Zionist occupation, at a time when some [Arab] rulers are panting to build close ties with [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to protect their thrones,” Murra added.

The promotional trailer from MBC said the series centers around the relations between Muslims and Jews in Kuwait during the 1940s, where approximately 200 Jewish families lived, the Post reported. The Jewish protagonist is from Turkey and the plot focuses on her as a social outcast in the Gulf because of her religion. She lives in Iran and Iraq before eventually moving to Bahrain to work.

Post reporter Khaled Abu Aker tracked angry Arab social media reaction.

“We have many successful and heroic women in the Gulf,” a woman named Hana al-Qahtan posted. “Why do we need to turn a Jewish woman into a hero in our dramas?”

An angry tweet from a man identified as Ahmed Madani said he could not understand why an Arab network would feature a television series about a Jewish woman during Ramadan.

Saudi24 reported on another Arab who defended the series: “I do not see the need to be sensitive to the ‘Umm Haroun’ series. The Jews lived in some Gulf countries, and they were also rooted in many Arab countries,” the unnamed person wrote. “They were oppressed … after watching the series, we may evaluate and judge it. If the goal is normalization, it is rejected by us.”

Filmed in the UAE, the show was directed by Egyptian Muhammad Jamal al-Adl and stars various Arab actors.

Saudi Arabia giving up caning

By John Torrendo BBC

Saudi Arabia is giving up raipoista criminal punishment. Whipping is expected to be replaced with imprisonment or fines.

Flagellation removal is part of reforms to Saudi Arabia led by the King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman strive to improve the country’s badly damaged identify the fame.

Caning in the headlines the last time in 2015, when Saudi blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to ten years in prison and a thousand lashes. He’s already flogged, but later caning is transferred to Badawi’s poor health.

Among others, the Sakharov human rights prize award winning Badawi is still in prison in Saudi Arabia.

Badawi still has about 2 years to go on his sentence which was for 10 years imprisonment and 1000 lashes. He received the first 50 lashes but has not had any further. Some fear he would not survive another 50 lashes, which might be the only cause for postponing them.

Now, if the 950 lashes are dropped from his sentence because of this new policy, will he get several more years added to his imprisonment? It would be cruel and unusual, but not surprising.

State in Malaysia Approves Public Canings for Breaking Sharia Law

Another in a series of posts documenting the 'progressiveness' of Islam. Sin is progressive, we see that in those addicted to pornography - it often progresses to child porn, and, in time, tends toward younger and younger children and more and more violent assaults. 

Islam progresses as its numbers rise. The greater the percentage of Muslims in a particular area or country, the more Islam moves toward Sharia and its legalism and barbarism. 

© Beawiharta / Reuters

A state in Malaysia governed by a conservative Islamist party has amended its laws to allow public canings for crimes against sharia law. Critics have called the move unconstitutional, with one politician saying it indicates a “bleak future” for the country.

The amendment was passed by the assembly of Kelantan to more closely align the state’s policies with Islamic criminal law, Kelantan deputy chief minister Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah said, as quoted by Bernama state news agency.

“Caning can now be carried out inside or outside of prison, depending on the court’s decision,” Mohd Amar said.

“This is in line with the religion, which requires that sentencing must be done in public,” he said.

He declined to say exactly what offenses would be punishable by caning, although Reuters reported that the amendment applies to sharia crimes.

Ti Lian Ker, a member of the Malaysian Chinese Association, which is part of the ruling coalition, says public canings are unconstitutional under federal criminal law.

“This is a rewriting of our legal system and spells a bleak future for the nation,” he said in a statement, as quoted by Reuters.

While Islamic law is observed in all of the other Malaysian states, its application is restricted to family issues such as divorce and inheritance, as well as sharia crimes involving Muslims, including the consumption of alcohol and adultery. Criminal cases are handled by federal law.

The decision of the Kelantan state assembly comes as no surprise, as the state has also been pushing to adopt a strict Islamic penal code called ‘hudud,’ which would allow adultery to be punished by stoning and thievery by amputation.

The state, which is governed by PAS, a conservative Islamist party, has also banned nightclubs and cinemas.

Last year, PAS introduced a bill that would expand the powers of sharia courts and incorporate hudud into the country’s existing legal system. The proposed legislation is expected to be debated in parliament later this month.

Ethnic Malay Muslims make up more than 60 percent of the country’s 32 million people. Similar calls to implement stricter sharia law have made waves in recent years, prompting concern from members of the country’s Chinese and Indian populations, as well as other ethnic minorities.

The Wednesday amendment comes just one month after Malaysia's Health Ministry made headlines for holding a contest soliciting videos which explained the consequences of homosexuality and "gender confusion," promising a cash award of up to US$1,000. 

Homosexuality is forbidden in Malaysia. Those violating the law face flogging and up to 20 years in jail.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian state of Kelantan isn't the only government in the region to advocate for caning, or against homosexuality.

In May, two gay men were publicly caned in Indonesia’s most conservative province, Aceh, which has the authority to enforce sharia law alongside the national criminal code.