'PETTY OFFENCE' HERE; JAIL IN SINGAPORE

THE use of marijuana at an end-of-exam party in Perth will cost two model
university students a year in jail in their home country of Singapore.

Gavin Seow Lek Chen, 27, and his fiancee Lynn Cheok Lye Peng, 22, pleaded
guilty in a Singapore court to using the drugs three weeks before they were
picked up in a random urine drug test in Singapore.

Their lawyer, Muralidharan Pillai, told the court it was not a case of a
"flagrant breach of Singapore's law" by the dedicated young students.

"What they did was to engage in an activity which is considered, at its
highest, a petty offence in Perth," Mr Pillai said.

"Never in their wildest dreams did they realise the significant impact of
their consumption once they landed on Singapore soil."

In Western Australia, first-time cannabis users can be let off with an
educational lecture.

Under recently amended Singaporean law, citizens using drugs overseas can
be charged as if they committed the offence in Singapore.

The law was designed to stop addicts travelling out of Singapore to nearby
countries to feed their habit.

The couple were caught after returning from a holiday with their families
to the Malaysian city of Malacca.

Mr Pillai said they were unaware of the change in the law as they had been
living in Perth for almost four years and were at most "guilty of shaming
our society" by not adhering to its values while they were resident in Perth.

Seow, who is a studying film and television at the West Australian School
of Art and Design, has been described as gifted and conscientious student
with a natural style of leadership.

Cheok, a student in Mass Communications at Curtin University, has been
called a role model and an exemplary student. Pleading for leniency, Mr
Pillai said Seow, the son of two senior nurses, and Cheok, the daughter of
a car dealer and sales representative, were young, remorseful and had
unblemished backgrounds and no history of drug abuse.

He said a custodial sentence would be a "crushing blow" to their studies
and brilliant career prospects.

The offence had happened at the start of the June winter vacation in Perth
at parties where "it is not uncommon for the hosts of such parties to offer
cannabis to the guests".

He said it happened in an atmosphere and a society with a materially
different and more relaxed view of the drug.

Medical reports tendered to the court said that although the pair were only
occasional users of cannabis the drug could stay in urine samples for up to
six weeks after use.

Despite the glowing character reports from the students' lecturers and
course co-ordinators, Judge F.G. Remedios imposed the one-year sentence on
the pair.

He said all Singaporeans must be aware that consumption of drugs would be
dealt with very strictly.