Friday, October 28, 2005
The hangman cryeth!
One day after I wrote and wondered about Singaporean hangmen....this article is published:
Singapore executioner wants out
Click and read. What a kill rate, huh?
One day later, this one with a photo...
Unmasked
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Does the hangman cry?
I would like to thank Maureen Tee, charming SMU student I recently had the pleasure of working with, for giving me the procrastinating-blogger kick up the butt I needed. It has indeed been too long since my last post.
Because every other crime that warrants the death penalty leaves a scar and fills the perpetrator with guilt. Think of a murderer – they are filled with an intense emotion (hate, jealousy, whatever) and then they see the suffering in their victim. They spend the remainder of their lives as either guilt-ridden fugitives or convicted criminals – there is no simple after-life. (There are some exceptions I suppose, like those who kill in the name of God, whether it’s a Jihad, an Inquisition or Lord Ram’s Birthplace – they might actually feel really good about themselves post-homicide. Another scary thought.)
So, when the drug trafficker first realizes that he is going to die. Wow. That is one cataclysmic downer.
Anyways, back to our unfortunate Australian. Mr. Nguyen was in transit. Many drug mules transit in
Mr. Nguyen admits to the crime, and claims he did it to drag his brother out of debt. Well, the law really doesn’t care why he did it. He almost certainly will die. Quite soon, actually – in
His case has raised a number of important issues:
1) The Death Penalty itself
A well-flushed out for/against debate can be found in many places.
On Deterrence:
Liberals argue that statistics prove it doesn’t really act as a deterrent. I think it may not in a country like the
But, in a socially controlled and micromanaged society like
I am against The Death Penalty for one simple reason – the possibility that we might kill an innocent:
All judicial systems are prone to human error.
If human error wrongfully puts somebody in prison for life, we can make up for it.
If human error wrongfully kills somebody, that’s it. Finito. The person is gone.
I cannot support any system that may erroneously kill innocent people.
Some also say that having the death penalty brings added economic costs to society (lawyers, death row etc.). It’s cheaper to keep them incarcerated.
Once again, probably not true in
That’s precisely the problem. We measure everything in $ and cents here. We have to stop putting a price on human life. I’m in favour of life-long sentences, even if it does mean an extra 0.1% on our ridiculously low tax rate.
2) Racism
Apparently, the Australian anti-death penalty squadron has not been as vociferous over Mr. Nguyen as they were for a Ms. Schapelle Corby, recently sentenced to 20 years in prison (later reduced to 15) for smuggling 4kg of Marijuana into Bali, and the ‘Bali 9’ – 8 Australian men and one woman – currently being tried for smuggling 8 kilograms of heroin into Bali.
Why not? The anti-racist lobby thinks it’s because poor old Mr. Nguyen is an Asian, while the others are white.
Still others disagree, claiming that race has nothing to do with it, but rather the fact that Mr. Nguyen has pleaded guilty, while the others claim they’re innocent.
Probably a bit of both.
One thing’s for sure, as far as the ‘race is not an issue’ people go. Hippy, neo-liberal humanists in the West always underestimate the level of xenophobia in their own countries. Many I’ve met are painfully ignorant of racist sentiments that the more insular folk in their country harbour.
In reality, it’s probably no safer for a Turbaned Punjabi to drive through middle
3) Neo-colonial Interference
The Australian Government, public and media have been trying to pressure the Indonesian and Singaporean Governments into letting their citizens off with a little slap on the wrists.
This is probably what riles us Asians the most – when a Western Government and Public try to tell us how to run our country. Few things get our blood boiling as much as this re-enactment of the good old colonial days. (remember Michael Fay?)
(Anyway, Americans have lost their right to preach about human rights to anybody.
The facts of the matter are always clear – they knew about the death penalty and they were caught in possession. Why should they get off while our criminals die?
Do Asian countries ever ask Western countries to give our citizens special judicial treatment?
The bloody cheek of it all.
4) Singaporean Apathy
For those who’ve read this far, some might have been perturbed by my flippant description of Mr. Nguyen’s plight and the death penalty. Well, I’m mimicking the average Singaporean’s take on these issues.
(Actually, that’s not true. The average Singaporean probably would never hear about ‘Mr. Nguyen on death row’. Too busy, either eating Chicken Rice or trying to make more money.)
Anyway, this is an extremely grave matter that we must start thinking about. It is most tragic that Mr. Nguyen is going to lose his life. We must start thinking about what kind of a country we want to be.
Thinking? Hah, that’s a good one. Sometime in the past forty years, as we were shedding our rags and kissing our riches, we decided to outsource all thinking to our dear Gahmen (Singlish, for Government). The Gahmen thinks for us, and we vote for them. It’s a symbiotic relationship that has made us rich.
And that’s all there is to life after all, isn’t it?