Still on the subject of the 2 diplomats who broke the law, I will now be talking about how the diplomats have gotten away with it -- through diplomatic immunity.
In 1969, 109 countries including Singapore signed the Vienna Convention. The Vienna Convention was created to protect diplomats from the laws of other states. You may ask why is this needed? The most probable reason is that the countries do not want their diplomats to have any unnecessary trouble in other countries where laws may differ. Perhaps like if a female diplomat from Europe was drinking wine in Malaysia, which is strictly prohibited for Muslim females, she would not have to face the laws of Malaysia. A breach in conduct, though protected by diplomatic immunity, would still be considered a disgrace.
Diplomatic Immunity would be the reason why the Romanian and Saudi Arabian diplomat are not and most likely will not be charged by law. The victims of these crimes will not be able to receive compensation of any sort. I am sure that many people are feeling that this is not fair at all. The only way the diplomats would be subject to charges would be if their respective countries remove the diplomatic immunity. However, that would be highly unlikely as it would be a disgrace to the entire country.
To ask for a revision of the terms of the Vienna Convention would defitnitely be too much. I believe that the only solution is for countries and their diplomats to act out of their own conscience. Hopefully, in the future, countries will have more stringent process in selecting their diplomats.
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