JURISDICTIONS
Mr Tong said that routine crimes that could happen on board the trains, such as theft and outrage of modesty, must be considered.
Singapore and Malaysia have agreed that both countries will have concurrent criminal jurisdiction over criminal offences that occur on board trains in transit, as well as over the stretch of railway tracks located between Piers 47 and 48, said Mr Tong.
For the RTS Link, any person who commits an offence under any Singapore law while on a train in transit would be treated as if the person had done so in Singapore.
“This then enables Singapore to investigate and prosecute offences committed at these locations, even if they might be outside Singapore,” said Mr Tong.
He added that Malaysia has also established jurisdiction over criminal offences on board trains in transit and on the railway tracks between Piers 47 and 48.
Both countries have agreed, however, that the country where the train completes its journey will have the primary right to exercise jurisdiction.
“This is also similar to the approach taken towards investigating offences onboard airborne aircraft, where the destination country has primary right,” said Mr Tong.
“Should the country without primary right wishes to conduct investigations into the matter, it may request the other country waive its right,” he added. “It also allows Singapore to investigate offences where there is public interest to do so.”
MP Sylvia Lim (WP-Aljunied) asked whether there could be cases where both countries have “real stakes” in curbing the criminal activity and may be equally interested in handling the case.
She asked: “Who will determine whether there is a greater public interest for Malaysia to prosecute, and how will this determination be made?”
Mr Tong said that there are situations where one country may well want to assert jurisdiction, but there’s “also a process for countries to discuss if both assess that there is public interest in prosecuting the case”.
He added that both countries have not “hardcoded” what public interest might look like, because each scenario could be different.
“You know that we have one of the busiest cross-border land checkpoints at the Causeway, and we’ve been managing this with the Malaysians consistently, so there’ll be no change to that,” he said.
