The President's Pleasure (TPP) in Singapore was a practice of indefinite imprisonment formerly applied to offenders who were convicted of capital offences (most notably murder and drug trafficking) but were below the age of 18 at the time of their crimes.
This is similarly practised contemporarily for offenders who were of unsound mind when they committed their crimes, who are thus indefinitely detained at prisons or medical facilities (notably the Institute of Mental Health) in Singapore.
), it was ruled that people found guilty of a capital offence committed while under 18 years of age are spared the death penalty and detained indefinitely at the President's Pleasure.
Extracted from a judgement titled Public Prosecutor v Anthony Ler Wee Teang and Another [2001] SGHC 361 (the original text of Section 213 of the CPC; repealed in 2010): 213.
[9] Extracted from a judgement titled Public Prosecutor v Tan Kok Meng [2020] SGHC 225 (the original text of Section 251 of the CPC): Acquittal on ground of unsound mind 251.
[10] Original text of Section 252 of the CPC: Safe custody of person acquitted 252 (1) Whenever the finding states that the accused committed the act alleged, the court before which the trial has been held shall, if that act would but for the incapacity found have constituted an offence, order that person to be kept in safe custody in such place and manner as the court thinks fit and shall report the case for the orders of the Minister.
At the same time, since 2012 until January 2018, there are three other inmates—consisting of Allan Ong and Kyaneth Soo and another unnamed detainee—who were released after serving between 13 and 19 years in jail and receiving clemency from the President of Singapore.
On 10 March 1967, the Court of Appeal overturned the convictions of all the four accused persons, and set them free due to the evidence being tainted and the jury not properly directed by the trial judge on some reasons.
The businessman, 55-year-old Ngo Cheng Poh, along with his assistants—57-year-old Ang Boon Chai and 51-year-old Leong Chin Woo—were found dead in a jungle by conscript soldiers training near the area.
[24] On 13 September 1976, 13-year-old Sa'at Ismail approached 68-year-old Letchimi Vilappan near a coffee shop in Serangoon Road, set a newspaper on fire, and threw it at the sleeping woman, causing her to be burned to death.
According to True Files, a Singaporean crime show re-enacting the murder, Rathakrishnan was said to have taken the GCE O-levels examinations and received a certificate, and worked with his relative after his release.
[36][37] On 16 July 1991, after their arrival at Changi Airport from Bangkok, two Hong Kong women were arrested by the police for carrying a total of more than 6 kg of heroin, which were hidden in the false bottom of their suitcases.
High Court judge M. P. H. Rubin sentenced Lam to indefinite imprisonment under TPP due to her actual age of 17 years and 6 months at the time of her arrest.
Two of them—24-year-old Tong Ching-man and her 25-year-old boyfriend Lam Cheuk-wang—were also Hong Kong citizens, while one was 34-year-old Singaporean Yeo Hee Seng and the fifth was 32-year-old Nigerian Chris Chinenye Ubaka.
While delivering his judgement, the judge stated that the attack on Chia was premeditated and the duo, together with Ng (who had been sentenced four years earlier), had carried it out with ill-feeling and vindictiveness, citing the viciousness of the crime.
The President, acting on the advice of the Cabinet, approved their appeals on account of their good behaviour in prison and allowed the two of them to regain their freedom and rejoin society.
While speaking about his past, he hoped that society would be more tolerating of ex-offenders, citing that even though some may be recalcitrant and persisting on their criminal ways, there are others who genuinely want to reform and become better persons.
In January 1996, Judicial Commissioner Amarjeet Singh of the High Court found the couple guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced them to be detained indefinitely under TPP.
Ler was also said to be facing financial problems incurred by his failed business ventures and gambling addiction, for which he was desperate to pay off by selling the flat he and his wife bought under both their names.
Z was also told to adhere to special conditions like curfew hours and electronic monitoring, and he would continue to receive rehabilitative support to ensure his reintegration into society.
According to media reports which covered his trial and his lawyer Subhas Anandan, Nasir's mother abandoned his family while he was an infant, and it was his aunt who took care of him.
Psychiatric assessments revealed that he was suffering from substance-induced psychotic disorder (as a result of his addiction to and intoxication by cough syrup and dextromethorphan), which caused him to experience delusions.
[82] On 27 October 2019, 22-year-old Gabriel Lien Goh, who earlier consumed LSD, suffered from acute hallucinogen intoxication, which caused him to experience illusions, hallucinations and paranoid delusions in the aftermath of the consumption.
As such, on 23 September 2022, the trial judge Valerie Thean decided to acquit Goh of culpable homicide on the grounds of unsound mind following the prosecution's submissions, and sentenced him to serve detention under the President's Pleasure.
[85] The prosecution argued that the mother's psychiatric condition rendered her mentally unsound and caused her to be unable to differentiate between right and wrong, as well as losing touch with reality, and thus urged the court to acquit her and detain her under the President's Pleasure.
[87] In 2004, Paul Quan, a state prosecutor, wrote a paper detailing a 15-year-old teenager jailed under the TPP for killing an insurance agent at the urging of her husband Anthony Ler.
[53] Chan Wing Cheong, an associate professor of law at the National University of Singapore, stated that there is a "conflict between sentencing options" from his opinion, and he opined that a review was necessary.
Anandan, who represented Muhammad Nasir Abdul Aziz, an underaged offender who was detained at the TPP for murdering his lover's husband in that same year, also said in his own words, "From the inmate's point of view, not knowing exactly when he could be released is a form of punishment in itself."
On the other hand, Teo Ho Pin, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Law and Home Affairs, stated that the practice of TPP for underaged offenders should remain.
[1] In 2010, the law was amended so that offenders who were convicted of capital offences but were under 18 years old at the time of the commission of their crimes would be sentenced to life imprisonment instead of the President's Pleasure.