I'm sure everyone who's been in this country for the past couple of days would've known about the terrible incident that occurred to Canny Ong. It is so sad that such things still happen and in such a cruel manner.
And not just this, the amount of sexual crimes has been on the increase of late, be they the 'date rape' sort or incest crimes. Why? I really wonder. What's wrong with those men? Is their urge for sexual satisfaction so great that nothing short of rape can satisfy them? Don't they realise that their mothers and sisters are also female? Would they condone rapes on them then?
My friends and I discussed this last night, and we think that the main problem is due to the accessibility of pornographic material and our education and moral system. Porn movies portray women as sex objects, since they're mostly geared towards male audiences; mainly because males tend to be more easily aroused through visual stimulation (an article carried by the Star some years ago), whereas females are more imagination-oriented.
Getting back, we think that porn stuff is the catalyst, or the 'push', that propels those men to commit those heinous crimes. The prime factor is education, or the lack of it.
Yeah, sure, we get that so-called sex education in our biology books. It teaches us about our sexual organs, physically. But there's actually no mention about how one is supposed to actually have sex. There's also no mention about how sex affects people emotionally and physiologically, not even in moral classes, where it should have been stressed, especially on the consequences of unsafe or pre-marital intercourse. Naturally, everyone's curious. And those men, being part the more aggressive sex, and still having the residual mentality of male superiority, never thought about the consequences of their actions, only the thrill of the moment.
How can we put a stop, at least a stopper, to this? I wonder what would be the sentence imposed upon the rapist and murderer of Canny Ong... death by hanging? Won't that seem too light a sentence? I'm thinking castration, then life imprisonment, or public humiliation. Barbaric? I definitely don't think so. I do recall a period of time when newspapers published readers' opinions on castration for rapists. Most said no, preferring the more slower and humane way of "educating" the people (I believe some women's group are also included, can't remember, too long ago). Well, I'd say they're too naive, and too idealistic.
The best way to deter is to instill fear. Then, after they are suffciently cowed and discouraged, start educating the younger generation. The older generation (out of schools) are mostly likely beyond re-education. You just can't change them much anymore, so ignore them, punish them, and educate the young.
I can see immediate benefits of castration (plus caning, compensation, community work, and public humiliation - muah-hah-ha!) over long prison terms:
- It's a reciprocal punishment: they scar the victim for life, so the law must scar them for life as well.
- No one has to worry about a repeat offender, since the... uhh... tool, has been removed. (To be more inhumane, take away the ability to father offspring too, in case they pass on bad genes.)
- No need to waste resources on keeping them in prison, when our prisons are already bursting at the seams.
- Death penalty? Why? Why give them the luxury of death when the victim has to get on with her life? Humiliate them publicly, and let them carry the shame. Should make the victim feel much better than death, imprisonment, or caning sentences.
- Acts as a BIG deterrent for would-be rapists: I'm sure nothing would be more humiliating to us men than having to lose our manhood and then having that fact publicised to the nation.
There's my rather long two cents on rape crimes. All you rapists and would-be rapists really makes me believe in religion and wish that there's a terrible Hell where you would rot in for all eternity, plus having to go through the fear, pain, and trauma over and over again, both in life and death!!! (How's that for a curse? :P )
