Child sex abuse on rise in Singapore

THE number of reported cases of sexual offences against children in Singapore has risen steadily in recent years, the Sunday Times newspaper said.

It said cases involving victims below 16 years of age rose from 113 in 1994 to 196 in 1998. Almost 90 percent of the victims were girls, the report quoted a study by Singapore Children's Society as saying.

It said relatives were involved in about a third of cases in 1998, with fathers the most likely abusers.

Professionals working with children in Singapore said reporting child abuse should be made mandatory in the city state.

But the ministry of community development and sports said Singapore had no plans to make reporting child abuse compulsory.

"Many people are already aware of child abuse. We must not get into the habit of always enforcing soemthing and make it our only solution," Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, senior parliamentary secretary to the ministry said.

"If we make it mandatory then parents might not even let their child go to the doctor for fear that he will report them," Yu-Foo said.