http://www.jolly-kiddo.blogspot.com

Not to mention that the street value can change frequently enough that it would be a hassle to get the street value all the time. I would probably say that if the punishment for a trafficker was to be so light. Drug traffickers would be free to smuggle drugs all the time.

My question to you is : how many would be like you, genuinely “wake up” after having a brush with the law?

Look at people like Michael Fay. After being rotan, he still has not wake up and causing troubles in his own country.

My personal thought is : punishment should never be equal to rehabilitation. A person may be rehabilitated but must first be punished for serving the crime.

That said, I also feel death sentence is too much for drug trafficking. Just a hefty fine (say 10 times the street value of the drug trafficked) plus 12 strokes of cane plus public shaming should be enough deterrence.

[[Mr Ho, perhaps you may wanna read this-

http://www.singapore-window.org/1020naus.htm

This is the reason why drug trafficking will never stop. Death penalty is like fighting SARs with cough drops. ]]

After reading this article, a thought come to my mind. This is conjecture on my part but could the traffickers hanged be the competitors of Lo?

After all, if one is chummy with a supplier, then it would be good business to cut off the supply route of the supplier’s competitors, thus benefiting oneself?

After all, did we catch ALL drug runners? Or just a selective few? I doubt we caught all the drug runners or else our society will be 100% drug free. And this is definitely not the case.

The flaw lies in our judicial system. We should have a panel of jury instead of having something important decided by one man. Definitely there will be some baseness if only one man will judge.

Having a jury (which has to be vetted by both parties, the prosecutor and the accused) is also more fair to both sides.

[[The victims, in their truamatised state of mind may not be ideal person to decide, but nonetheless, the judge can make an equally bad decision, being human.
An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind. ]]

And how can a 3rd party person, who cannot understand the sufferings of victims, will be able to judge?

Also, you diminish the victims by saying all of them will be out for revenge. Some victims of crimes have forgave their perpetrators. I remember the family of the murdered maid pleaded on behalf of the murderer as well (also a maid).

Some rape victims have also forgave their rapists. So why not the victims of drug abuse?

Don’t you think it is TRUE justice when the victim or the victim’s family has a say in the punishment of the perpetrator?

There are some of us who got a second chance. Let me just assume that for all of us, it was probably because what offenses you committed was simply a very small issue and no one would want to make a big thing out of it. Its the same reason why humans forgive each other for accidentally stepping on each others toes but no one forgives another person who is a terrorist or who kidnaps your child for ransom but murders the kid instead of giving it back.

No one becomes a drug addict by using the drug once, that simply means that the drug seller was selling the drugs to the same guy over and over again which is even worse. No child ever gets a mental issue or needs therapy after one caning. Its when the caning gets too often when the child suddenly develops mental illness. Am I right to blame the parents mainly for being too free with the cane? Or should I blame the child who is being too disobedient too? The simple fact is, the parents chose to be too free with the cane. The drug traffickers are simply too free with other people’s lives. The parents get satisfaction and the drug traffickers get money. Why are people asking for clemency when Yong gets the death penalty?

Singapore doesn’t really believe in an eye for an eye. If it was so, we would be getting rapist to rape the wives or girlfriends of convicted rapist. Singapore Government believes in a strict and pragmatic governing which unfortunately doesn’t fit with what the Western Government believe is good for us,

Ris Low was disqualified simply because she lied in her contract and because the Miss Singapore World has to be someone who is actually as close to the epitome of perfect and pure beauty that humans can think of. Unfortunately, she doesn’t fit the word pure for her crime record and her lying of the contract. Should she go to the world stage, do you sincerely think that she would have a chance of even qualifying for the final?

Lately, it seems that strangely, there are many countries who believe in treating lawbreakers with kindness and hoping that they will repent. However, I personally prefer to look at it in a rational and statistical point of view. Thats something I hope to have in my governing party. Rather that then to let themlead with irrational hope and ignoring of statistic as well as adopting laws and policy that are suitable for other countries instead of ours. Do remember that Singapore has the lowest crime rate compared with almost all the countries who think they know better about crime than our country. Why should we take advice from countries that are in fact performing worse than us?

We have been brought up in a very “Chinese” way of thinking e.g. “an eye for an eye”, we are very unforgiving and the elderly have always taught us this “I will bring you to the police if you misbehaved”… all these teachings and mentality has brought about a very unforgiving society. Look like Ris Low(most recent news). The media and public went into full force to lambaste this poor girl! Yes, she has done something wrong, but isn’t it time we be more forgiving and gracious toward her cause?

I seriously hope Anti-Death group should bring this matter up to the government. I will gladly be part of this group. Please email me – marcusykk@gmail.com

In the name of peace…

I think a more apt analogy would be:

Death penalty is like treating flu with antibiotics – you know that it doesn’t work, but it’s better to have something than nothing.

Heroin (or diamorphine) is used legally as a painkiller for cancer patients. You would expect these cancer patients to all become drug addicts, wouldn’t you?

Read:

http://www.nci.nih.gov/cancertopics/pdq/supportivecare/substanceabuse/patient/allpages

“People with cancer very rarely develop substance abuse problems unless they abused drugs and alcohol before cancer was diagnosed. Generally, people without a history of substance abuse can take opioids and other drugs to control cancer pain without developing substance abuse problems. People with a history of substance abuse, however, are at risk for developing problems when drugs are prescribed to control cancer symptoms.”

Again my point is: the problem does not lie with the drugs alone, it’s also the people who abuse them. Simplistically putting all responsibilities squarely on the drug traffickers is just denying that these drug addicts or potential drug addicts need help in their lives. Drug addiction is just the symptoms and not the root of the problem. The drug traffickers might have paid with their lives for their crimes, but don’t pretend that the problem has been solved.

We all know heroin is a highly addictive substance, but did you know nicotine (the substance found in cigarettes) is just as addictive as heroin? For those of you who smoke, you know didn’t get addicted on just 1 cigarette. It took multiple exposures before addiction develops. Simply that means, one cannot become a drug addict overnight just because he was fooled into using drug once.

Did you know that drug addiction is also a form of psychological disorder? People who turned to drugs (inlcuding nicotine for that matter) were emotionally less robust to begin with, therefore they were more susceptible to drug addiction. So is it any surprise to know that almost all drug addicts are addicted on nicotine?

My point is, it takes 2 hands to clap. People who became drug addicts were ‘handicapped’ in life to begin with, while I’m not saying that drug traffickers are guiltless, is it fair to put all responsibilities on them for the lives ‘ruined’? More importantly, do they deserve the death sensentece like how they are made out to be?

Thankfully, my unit commander let me off with a much less serious charge than would have been (think DB and record).

Sometimes we commit mistakes because of our recklessness, our naivete, our stupidity and immaturity, and maybe while under stress. Sometimes all we need is just a chance for us to prove that we understand our mistakes and will not do that again. Till today I’m grateful to the unit for not prosecuting me harsly. As first-time offenders, they really deserve my chance.

I ‘grew up’ while sitting in Queenstown Police station for three hours that night. I was not prosecuted for the act because I was able to convince the police that I was not trying to steal the car but to just drive it away to teach the owner a lesson for being so careless.

Till today, I have been a very good citizen – all because I felt I was given a chance. This is what a death penalty cannot offer. There must be some degree of mitigation given to anyone who are caught on the wrong side of the law because of his tender age.

well, I could say abolishing Death Penalty is like trying to cure H1N1 with regular flu pills. Death Penalty is like the H1N1 vaccine… I do not think the vaccine will be 100% effective, but it’s gonna be much much better than regular flu tablets.

I can understand that some folks may well support the use of Mandatory Death Penalty. However, YONG’s case certainly highlights that it is a blunt instrument.

I think we all have experienced not only how foolish and naive teenagers can be, but also how easily they can be swayed and influenced by others, both peers and also older persons whom they look up to.

For many of us, our kids grow up in the context of an attentive family and with good counsel available on hand. From what I understand of YONG’s background, he is not so fortunate. He was on his own at an early age and fell in with the “wrong” group of people. I am pretty sure that the “mastermind” exploited the fact that he was young and naive to recruit him as their delivery boy in their illicit racket.

Does YONG deserve to be put to death because he is incorrigible, a lost cause with no prospect of rehabilitation? I don’t think so.

I hear that the Clemency Petition will be submitted to the President soon, and will be open for signatures for only a little while more. For those interested to sign the Clemency Petition, contact: singaporeantideathpenalty@gmail.com

For those interested to know what is the position of the Roman Catholic Pope on the issue of Death Penalty, see
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/documents/rc_seg-st_doc_20010621_death-penalty_en.html