Intrusive laws to curb scams, quarrels signal society's priorities

Strong public support for more decisive action to tackle both problems

- Goh Yan Han

The long arm of the law looks set to reach further after two Bills were mooted in the House this week.

The Protection from Scams Bill, introduced in Parliament on Nov 11, will give the police powers to control the bank accounts of stubborn scam victims who insist they are not being scammed, despite evidence to the contrary.

If passed, the police will be able to issue a restriction order to a bank that will limit money transfers, ATM withdrawals, and credit card transactions and personal loans.

On Nov 12, Parliament passed the Community Disputes Resolution (Amendment) Bill after a five-hour debate. The enhanced law will make mediation mandatory for neighbourly disputes, and is set to grant powers to officers of a new Community Relations Unit (CRU) to enter homes and forcibly declutter them in cases of severe hoarding.

At face value, both laws look highly intrusive, granting powers to public officers to reach into people's wallets and homes. They are certainly novel, and are among the world's first to grant such powers to counter the hardly unique problems of scams and community quarrels.

But the moves are being made after various earlier measures have not managed to arrest the respective problems.