國家機器，究竟是要小而美，還是大有為才好呢？這個問題見仁見智，但若是說到連人民的「房事」都要干涉，恐怕連贊成「保姆國家」（ nanny state）的人，都要大吃一驚?釱退避三舍的。而位於東南亞的新加坡，正是一個什麼都要管，甚至是什麼樣的性行為才算正常都要詳加規範的國家。

日前新加坡一名法官因為承受外界壓力，不得不將一名因為「接受口交」而遭到起訴的警官減輕刑罰，儘管這名 27歲的警官和一名青少女發生口交，是在兩人相互同意下所發生的。

受理這件案子的首席法官表示，口交有違亞洲風俗文化及價值。可是話說回來，這名 16歲的青少女，並未違反新加坡的現行法令。事實上，新加坡在今年年初做了一項修改，取消一項規定，允許異性之間可以進行口交，但前提是，必須在雙方自願，女方年滿16歲的情況下發生。既然如此，77歲高齡的楊姓首席法官縱然心中對口交不敢苟同，也不得不從寬處置了。

這起新聞鬧上檯面，讓當前的新加坡社會也開始反問，究竟政府管理人民要到什麼樣的程度呢？這項法律修改之初，新加坡的內務部大臣向國會提交了一份報告，指出明令禁止口交是英國殖民時期所制定的法律，且早已不符合現代人的性愛觀念。

根據以前的法律，男女雙方在發生性愛時，如果違背了正常的性愛行為（如口交），將被視為是一種違法的行為，而違法者將被判 10年以上的監禁，還要對受害者給予經濟賠償。

A Singapore judge reduced the sentence of a policeman charged with receiving oral sex after his case provoked a storm of protest, but he told the court that such a sex act did not conform to Asian values.

Police coast guard sergeant Annis Abdullah's sentence was halved to a year in jail after the 27-year-old received consensual oral sex from a teenage girl in April.

"In the Asian culture, certain offences are still not talked about though in some cultures you can go sucking away, and some important people had gotten away with it," 77-year-old Chief Justice Yong Pung How was quoted by state media as telling the court at Tuesday's sentencing.

The man's case sparked a rare public outcry against a notorious local law that says "whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animals can be fined and jailed up to 10 years, or even for life."

Letters defending Abdullah filled newspapers after media reported the girl's age as 16, above the legal age of consent.

After days of furious correspondence in the press deriding the oral sex ban as antiquated and out of step, the government announced that her age at the time of the incident was 15.

Still, Singaporeans, known for quietly acquiescing to tough laws, appeared shocked such a ban even existed, and the government announced last month it may decriminalize oral sex between men and women following a review of the Penal Code.

全球最嚴格的網路安全法

連人民在私密場合從事性行為都要管的新加坡政府，是絕對不會放過網路安全這個議題的。根據去年底的國防政策白皮書，新加坡政府將針對網路安全進行整頓，所隨之而來的相關法律規定，更是世界上屬一屬二的嚴刑峻罰。為了防範電腦駭客和病毒發明家的行動，新加坡警方往後可以在攻擊發動之前，就先行逮捕。

所謂的《電腦濫用法案》（ Computer Misuse Act）將賦予新加坡政府在網路上更大的公權力。新加坡國防部長東尼˙譚表示，21世紀的戰爭將建立於科技與知識的基礎之上，而這將給新加坡這樣一個資源匱乏的小國，有更多武裝自己的途徑。有鑒於美國911恐怖攻擊?釱鄰國印尼酒店大爆炸等事件，新加坡正努力強化本身的國防力量。

Ultra-strict Singapore has passed some of the world's toughest laws against computer hackers and virus writers, allowing police to arrest suspects before they strike, official documents show.

Drawing comparisons with the island's harsh Internal Security Act that allows detention without trial, the revised Computer Misuse Act gives authorities wide-ranging powers to police the Internet.

Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, said the law aimed to fight "cyberterrorism", but would be used sparingly -- chiefly against threats to national security, essential services such as banking and finance, and foreign relations.

Passed on Monday, the bill allows police to take "pre-emptive action" based on credible information before hackers strike to protect computer networks from unauthorised entry.

People who hack or deface a Web site may be jailed for up to three years or fined up to S$10,000 ($5,800).

Singapore, a wealthy, predominantly ethnic Chinese state, hardened security in the aftermath of last year's Bali bomb attacks in neighbouring Indonesia and again this year after a car bomb exploded in Jakarta killing 12.

"Instead of a backpack of explosives, a terrorist can create just as much devastation by sending a carefully engineered packet of data into the computer systems which control the network for essential services, for example the power stations," Ho said.

Critics said the legislation echoed Singapore's Internal Security Act, a Draconian law written by the island's former British colonial rules that allows for detention without trial and was used to halt communism in Singapore in the 1950s.

"Indeed it sounds very much like the cyber-space equivalent of the Internal Security Act," said Ho Geok Choo, a member of parliament.

"How does the police cybercrime unit intend to differentiate between a real intent to compromise our national computer networks from those that are merely 'wild' talk?," she said.

Singapore authorities have detained 33 suspected Muslim militants associated with the Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian network of Islamic radicals accused of planning to blow up the US embassy and bomb other Western targets in Singapore.

In the latest security move, police banned street parking along the popular Mohamed Sultan Road bar district this week.

Ho Peng Kee told parliament on Monday that security services had seen a big increase in the number and sophistication of hacking attempts and cyberattacks".

Instances of successful hacking in Singapore, known for its high broadband Internet penetration rates, climbed from 10 in 2000 to 19 in 2001 and 41 last year, he said. There were 24 cases in just the first half of this year.

"The number of unsuccessful attempts is probably many times more," he said. One network saw 6,000 hacking attempts in a three-month period, he added.