Straits Times, Singapore, 24 August 2001

Hanson advocates justice, Singapore style

FOR years she has lambasted Asia for sending too many of its people to Australia.

Now the country's most controversial politician, right-winger Pauline Hanson, has been forced to admit that at least one regional neighbour might have got it right.

Particularly when it comes to law and order.

The One Nation leader, whose anti-Asian views have led to her being branded a racist, has revealed that she has a soft spot for Singapore.

In fact she believes Australia could learn a lot from the city-state in the way it treats its criminals.

Ms Hanson, who hopes to be re-elected to Federal Parliament later this year as a senator, said Australia was far too lenient with its wrongdoers and advocated a little Singapore-style justice in dealing with serious offenders.

Asked if that included floggings, she told a Sydney's Radio 2UE: 'Oh, too right I would. Yes, I would.

'You've got to have punishment before rehabilitation and we can learn a lot from Singapore.'

Her comments came in the wake of a recent spate of ethnic crimes in Sydney, in which a number of youths of Lebanese descent have been accused of raping teenaged Caucasian girls.

In what government leaders saw as adding fuel to the fire, she blamed the ethnic-based crime on a lack of respect for Australian culture.

Copyright @ 2000 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.