SINGAPORE: Women in Singapore have lashed out at a court after it overturned a jail sentence of a man found guilty of raping a woman in the city-state. “It is despicable that a judge would find a woman's testimony not suitable for upholding the charges after this long. It is sad and a sad moment for women in this country,” university student Nora told Bikyamasr.com. “If that was something that happened to me and I was raped, under whatever circumstances, the court should side with the woman.” Ong Mingwee, 30, was convicted last year of raping a woman he had a one-night stand with. He was given a 7-year jail sentence with 8 strokes of the cane. But he claimed his innocence and appealed against the conviction and the sentence. On Sunday, Ong, a former poster boy for international clothing brand Crocodile, walked out of the High Court a free man. Justice Quentin Loh acquitted him of the rape charge due to large gaps in the women's testimony. Ong had met the then-22-year-old woman at Zouk on the night of Feb 11, 2009, and had taken her back to his flat at Toa Payoh North. She said he forced himself on her, but this time the court disagreed. That was the first time they had met. Mutual friends had introduced them. The case has highlighted what women here call double-standards when women and sex are involved. Much of that blame has been directed at the media, who they argue uphold the idea that women are sexual beings and praise men who rape and degrade women in the Southeast Asian country. This case is no different. “What the media is doing is kind of trying to show that these women were the ones using their bodies and sex for their own gains, when the reality is they were forced to do things or they would lose deals. How is that even close to being fair," questioned Ronda Chang, a university student. Women in Singapore have also demanded an end to “defamatory" name-calling online. This is in light of the recent reports that suggest Sue, the woman involved in a sex-for-business corruption case, was being called “slut" and other terms on online networks. “The media is quick to pick up on this, but they don't bother when men are called names. It is as if only the degrading of women makes headlines," said a social worker who works with battered women in the country. Women here are angry at the accusations, questioning how activists and social media users are attacking the woman in the case and not the men who forced her to give sexual favors in order to seal business agreements. “It is disgusting and something we all should condemn," Maria Li Xui, an advertising consultant in Singapore, who told Bikyamasr.com that “people simply don't understand how difficult it is to be a woman in this country and do business." She and other women said that the online activity and “debasement" of Sue has shown that Singapore has a long way to go before they can understand the role of women in society. “We are all struggling to get things done and work and sexual harassment and sexual favors are pushed on us all the time. It is reality that I think many Singaporeans turn a blind eye to," she added.
