There is a neeed to be ruthlessly tough with drug trafficking and those who willingly engage in such pursuits for profit at the expense of human misery.

There are arguments against the death penalty and against those states who impose the death penalty for certain offences such as drug trafficking. I won’t go into the pros and cons of either argument here.

It is important though that we as a community of people in the region be aware of the false sense of security afforded by incompentent lawyers in this region who take on capital punishment cases.

One merely has to review the many capital offence cases tried in Malaysia by their brightest and their best there to discover the haphazzard way in which lawyers there handle these cases.

It provides rich pickings for those in their ranks who have the stomach to conduct these cases because of the desperation felt by clients who will pay whatever price there is demanded by lawyers to be defended in such cases.

The service by lawyers especially in Malaysia though has never in recent years reflected the level of care and thought required to be given to these matters because there is often as one put it, no disgruntled client to complain after the sentence has been carried out.

http://takemon.wordpress.com/2009/08/22/they-shoot-horses-dont-they/

Gopal Raj Kumar

My daughter and I visited Singapore in 1995 and we were interviewed by your newspapers, and I loved Singapore. My daughter will be teaching English in Japan, and she turned out well, but crime wants her to leave America. I still work to keep busy, but I still wish we had Singapore laws here in America.

Mr President, my personal appeal to you to show greater compassion and empathy to a young mindless youth who must have be tormented and recovered his mind back and it is up to you Mr President to have the last say to save a life.

Leejuanpat,

I applaud your compassionate attitude. However, I doubt that our President will be moved. If he spares this young man, he would have a hard time explaining & justifying why he did not do likewise for those sentenced to death for similar crimes in the past. It is not easy for people in authority to admit their mistakes publicly – and that’s a shame!

All due respect to your right to advocate whichever cause you wish. This person isn’t your brother, neither are (I hope) any of the deathrow prisoners whose hanging you are so adamant about. They arrived at this sad state of their lives in different ways. Perhaps you brother is, in your view, beyond redemption – that just isn’t true in all other cases.

Imagine an abused child advocating that all parents should be locked up. Imagine a rape victim advocating the castration of all men. That seems to be the sort of generalisation upon which you base your support for the death penalty and your rationale for it – and it is frightening.

Remember this – Yong also has a brother who has publicly spoken out pleading for his life. Obviously, this boy differs from your brother in one very significant way. He may be a stranger to you and I, but there are people who love him as a son and a brother. Think on that.

It was a true eyeopener.

Hi Zero-Happy to hear from you. Yes, whether big or small, these people must face the full wrath of the law and charge under the Mandatory Death Sentence and no mercies must be shown to them. Just imagine if without Mandatory Death Sentence, our Modern Singapore situation would be much worse than our neighbours like Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. We as Singaporean must always put our Modern Singapore and her national interests above all things and hence our fellow Singaporeans have peace of mind and after a day’s of hard work can go back and sleep soundly and wake up fresh for another day’s work.

Regards
Andrew Chuah

To andrew chuah
I am quite surprised at the ‘bizarre’ story you related. Unless i understand wrong, you are saying your brother deserves to be put to death because he is a drug pusher… well we are moving one step up the ladder. We were originally talking about the small fry peddlar runner who transacts to the end user customer. My view is really that we cannot kill the peddlar runner. But as for the mastermind, what to do with THAT fella, i really not sure. I am only sure it is not quite right to kill the ikanbilis of a small fry. Having said that, i think it is timely to do a study on the more important point. Does all this work? Some study should be done on countries which Do not impose death penalty, and see whether they are overwhelmed with drug prblems? We could argue till the cows come home, but let us not re-invent the wheel, i am sure we can learn from how other countries manage their crooks.

Zero

A person who forgives is more noble than a person who judges. As a country do we want to be seen as land that offers hope and forgiveness or a land that rules with an iron fist. Do we need this rule of law in our so called developed country?

What the hell is going on in Singapore?

The rich and powerful are welcomed and protected irrespective of their criminal backgrounds, while the weak and easily-bullied lower souls are being treated worse than slaves and animals?.

Mr President, my personal appeal to you to show greater compassion and empathy to a young mindless youth who must have be tormented and recovered his mind back and it is up to you Mr President to have the last say to save a life.

As a Buddhist saying goes “saving a life is loftier that the seven-storey pagodas”.
A great blessing of mankind’s benevolence. Thank you Sir.

Hi Zero-Good to hear from you (your posting No.30) I am all for Death Penalty not only for Drugs Trafficers but also Drugs Syndicates and their masterminds who are now very educated and especially those who parked their tens of millions of their drugs monies in Singapore for investments. Let me tell you my story-

My story- Why I support the Death Penalty

My only former brother (I am the eldest and he is the youngest, only two of us and I am Singaporean as I was born in Singapore whereas he was born in Malaysia, and he is a very highly educated man good degrees from Cambridge and a Master from NUS) and is the richest man in Penang and all the authorities there are under his payroll and he tried to get them to put me under the dreaded Internal Security Act and Sedition Act as he suspected me to inform them-earlier, the Inland Revenue Board whacked him, his wife and her family very hard, next Police and Customs but he managed to put them under his payroll). Even my dad a retired Associate Professor of Physics had to apologise and knelled down to them inorder to reconcile with him as he loves him very muuch-all his savings spent on him)He even asked me to do likewise but I refused as I am God Fearing Singaporean-yes, poor and still struggling. Just three weeks ago, the IRB raided them and he is after me again. I told my parents, I don’t negotiate or compromise with such people and I was the first to cut him off-so what being the richest man in Penang.My mum knew about his business and admitted after my dad confronted him and she said “so what just a business like any other business, blame the drugs addicts” and told me in Singapore he has many strong cables protecting him and I told her “bullshit” and in Singapore we hang drugs traffickers……unfortunate he is one of the mastermind and if I am the PM of Singapore, I will go all out for him and hang him (there must be no but, if, maybe, second thought and always put Singapore and her national affairs above all things-this has been my stand)

We as Ordinary Singaporean must continue to support the Death Penalty-despite this more still come and trafficking drugs.

Regards
Andrew Chuah

not really. I also support death penalty.

To make a simple case for the death penalty where it is not a death for a death, let’s just say there are things worse than the permanent state of being dead. You heard of 生不如死?

I agree… somewhat.

But, being lenient will make them not just indirectly responsible, but also directly responsible. Because, by being lenient, they would have encouraged the desperate to ‘try’.

Having said that, I think we are digressing. The topic is not about whether we agree with death penalty, but whether denying his lawyer access is right or wrong. …. then again, this topic got nothing to discuss. I can’t imagine anyone agreeing that denying him access to his lawyer to be right.

when did singapore claim to be a christian country???