Yong Vui Kong’s appeal hearing takes place at 10am on Monday, 15 March 2010.
By Andrew Loh
Yong Vui Kong was 12 when he left his grandfather’s palm oil estate “deep in the forests of Sabah” in Malaysia to strike it out on his own. He had had enough of watching his mother being abused by his grandfather and her relatives. He wanted to help her escape what he now calls “that place of pain”. And so, he made up a story. He told his mother that he had found someone who would take him in as a godson. But the truth was, his “godfather” ran an illegal gambling business. Vui Kong went to work for this man, hoping to save up enough money so he could rescue his mother.
He was eventually thrown out by his godfather. Vui Kong thinks it was probably because he was too small and skinny to be of any use. He ended up washing cars to survive, making about RM$3 a day. It was hardly enough to pay for food, let alone accommodation. He would often pester his friends to put him up for short periods of time. He lived like this for three years.
At 15, he made his way to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, hoping to find a better job. But things didn’t turn out the way he planned. He faced discrimination because he came from a small town and was often beaten up. He found work in a Chinese restaurant but was paid far less than his colleagues.
A local gang recruited him to hawk illegal video compact discs . Soon he was told to help collect debts. He was later given a more “important” job by his “Big Brother”, who promised to pay him handsomely. The man had treated Vui Kong well – feeding him, clothing him and taking him out to fancy restaurants. Vui Kong felt compelled to do anything “Big Brother” said. More importantly, he needed the money. His mother was suffering from severe depression and he wanted to help pay for her treatment.
He started delivering“gifts” to various clients. He did not know it initially, but the colourfully gift-wrapped packages contained drugs.
In 2007, Vui Kong was caught while making a delivery in Singapore. The police found 47.27 grammes of heroin on him. A judge eventually handed him the mandatory death sentence for drug trafficking.
Harsh Reality
In Singapore, hangings take place at dawn on a Friday. Prisoners are only told about their impending execution on Monday. Vui Kong broke down when he was informed that he would be put to death on 4 December 2009. He hadn’t seen his mother in more than two years. She was still battling depression and all through this time, the family had decided to keep the truth from her. But the thought of not saying goodbye was too much for Vui Kong to bear and his siblings decided to fly her to Singapore.
They finally met three days before the scheduled execution. It was an emotional reunion. Vui Kong knelt down before his mother, bowing to her three times. He then begged for her forgiveness and told her he had to “go away forever” to do “penance” for all the bad things he had done. He told her she would never see him again.
Did she understand the meaning behind his words? Perhaps we will never know. What must have been clear to her though was that her son had undergone a dramatic transformation. He had embraced a new way of life in prison and was now a devout Buddhist. He would wake up at 4am every morning to meditate and he eagerly sought the advice of the Buddhist monks who visited him regularly.
For the first time in his life, he was taught to discern right from wrong. He also realised that contrary to what he was told as a child, cigarettes were not the same as drugs. “If I knew they would harm anyone, I would surely not do the job,” he said in his clemency appeal to the President in 2009.
He found a friend in prison – a 22-year-old from Malaysia, who was also received the death penalty for drug trafficking. The boy would die just three months before Vui Kong’s scheduled execution. He was a trembling mess the day before the hanging. Vui Kong would later tell his brother that he stayed up all night comforting his friend, urging him to meditate so he could face his final moments with inner peace.
The next morning, the boy had to be dragged from his cell to the execution chamber, crying, wailing and begging to be freed and to be forgiven.
For himself, Vui Kong continues to hope for a miracle. He’s even started to learn English so he can better communicate with his lawyer.
“He is remorseful and feels he should be severely punished,” his brother Yun Leong explained, “but he wants to live so he can continue seeing us, seeing our mother again. He wants to keep learning and meditating and being a better person.”
When the court granted him a stay of execution in December, one of the first people to pay Vui Kong a visit was his lawyer. During the meeting, Vui Kong presented him a gift – a picture that had taken him weeks to complete.
“He would kneel for hours as he drew,” his lawyer said.
The picture is a colourful interpretation of one of the manifestations of Lord Buddha – he is standing at the gates of hell, saving souls from eternal damnation.
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Photos courtesy of The Death Penalty in Singapore
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wah this guy the can, man… he despises the uneducated, berates their langugage and yet is able to fall back to use the very same language he despises …
you singlish si beh ho…… you are just like us.. woof woof!
objective
1. Do you know what is confession or as you dubbed ‘confession’
Ans = In a police INTERROGATION, whatever you say is a confession.
2. more than 95% of criminals statistically are recalcitrants. Your “anecdotal” evidence of merely 3 is not even statistically significant to calculate.
Ans = As an individual with no certs as a welfare/social worker (normal citizens), helping 3 people was a success.
3. This is not the first time he trafficked, god has given him chance after chance, so how many more chances? As said, it is clear that he was given more than one chance to repent, but the lure of money kept coming.
Ans = How would you know that it was God that has given him a ‘chance’ when the trips were repeated due to negligence at the border? The word ‘CHANCE’ should only exist after he was caught.
4. You claim that how I know that he knew the “rules and laws”, now I ask you how do you know that he is truly repentant? Amazing that you swept other people’s statement aside and yet claim that you know all. How do you he has depression
Ans = How do I know that he is truly repentant? Given that young age and becoming a devout Buddhist, manage to avoid the temptation and craves of eating meat?? Still wanting to meet his family in years to come. Isn’t that repentant enough?
No trust, no chance, no confident = no development, no progress, no changes is a sad way to live a life.
5. As lobo had said, if death penalty is not mandatory and carried out, we will just say it has bark but no bite. Many studies had shown that a deterrent has not deterrence if it is not enforced. In fact many countries such as britain use singapore as a POSITIVE example.
Ans = In your dream.
6. It seemed that he enjoyed all the luxuries of going into 5 star hotels to wine and dine, and dreams of becoming rich and powerful.
Ans = Why are you so sore?
7. Yes take god out of the equation, god gave him more than one chance, god didnt act, if god doesnt solve this problem, we will! Stop using ur religious dogma!
Ans = Err… excuse me, who are you to judge?
As of no.8
Ans = You will have a heart attack if you find out about Norway’s jail. LoL
You are just plain EVIL. That’s all I have to say. I am anti drug abuser myself. I hate them. But having compassion for a life is another different thing. He is only 21, for God’s sake! There will be time on every individual to get a ‘knock’ on their head to fully understand one’s plight but perhaps by then, it will be too late to understand Vui Kong’s plight. What will be left will only be regrets.
May God save him.
And lastly
@AnnA
Oh wow Anna, its great that you admit you are lowlife and not get offended. Wasnt hansen’s statement clearly stating that being “hardwired” equates to uneducated and to being low income.
Hahaha… you don’t get it? simpleton.
To devil
You mean the prosecutor is more powerful than the judge? They can override the judge? What is judge then? How can the prosecutor even mete out the sentence? Saying it is wrong is an understatement. It is mind bogglingly absurd! Why do we bother spending on having a judge in this case? Uniquely Spore indeed.
If one day you are stricken by an illness that need the world’s most expensive medication to save your life and one of your children is so desperate to see you live. Along came Ah Seng who knows this boy is likely to do anything to save his Dad. Ah Seng, being Ah Seng, does not care a hood if the boy gets caught and be sent to the gallows, all he wants is his drug deal to secure him the hundreds of thousands of dollars. So the son risks his life to do what Yong did and gets caught. Would you say yeah, hang him. He knew what he was doing, he did it 6 times, and all for the money!
The child got hanged, the case is closed, for the prosecutor gets their pay cheque, maybe another medal for napping the trafficker, the judge though irrelevant, also got his pay cheque. Meanwhile Ah Seng continues to live in his multi-million villa, targeting the next vulnerable child. Some trafficking continues to slip through unnoticed, many drug abusers continue to get hooked.
What has the Spore police & judiciary sytem solved after taking away a filial child’s life?
hansen, I’m also against the mandatory aspect of the death penalty (you can ask gemami, I’ve debated with him before), but for all our sakes please shut the hell up. From what I’ve seen, all you’ve done is to make unjustifiable and maybe even defamatory personal attacks and misrepresented the arguments of those who disagree with you.
Their arguments might lack compassion, but that does not mean the arguments are illogical or unreasonable. There are A LOT of Singaporeans who have the same mindset, including some who are in positions of power. Someone no less than AG Woon is making some of the same arguments before the SGCA. Do you consider him uneducated, lowlife, savage or illogical? By mindlessly throwing those labels at people, you’re the one who ends up sounding like a raging savage.
The arguments we’re making are moral ones. The last thing we need is to lose that moral high ground because some immature jackass went around calling people dogs just because they disagree. If all you can do is to insult and deride people who disagree with you, the very people we have to convince, the best thing you can do for the abolitionist cause is really just to, in the immortal words of Sally Ang, shut up and sit down.
objective
1. How do you make a statement from an interrogation? Why would I try to confuse others? I gave straight answers.
2. There are many unappreciative people like you who would leave a comment meant for sarcasm.
Please understand the word MANDATORY. (I know u are educated but please understand the true meaning of it and foresee the consequences if the punishment is meted out to an innocent person (not saying Vui Kong) but then again the mandatory death penalty that was sentenced to Vui Kong does not fit his age when he was caught and the circumstances behind his wrongdoing.
Simpleton because you sounded very narrow minded and merciless due to out of touch with feelings. I hope you can see someone’s brother as your brother to start having compassion.
I don’t support criminals but when it comes to teenagers going to be hang… that will be seen in a different view. And please be informed, that I have 4 grown up sons who are not drug addicts. God forbid if anyone plant drugs into our homes and God forbid if they will be dupe to be mules. But how can we know if these can or might happen? There’s a possibility that these can happen to anyone. By then, isn’t having MDP an injustice to all?
AnnA
Mar 15, 2010 16:34
For what? So that you can be seen as a mortal on a higher level? Nah… we are MERE mortals. LoL
where did I say that? Which part of ‘we are mortals, talking about mortal issues’ implies that I see myself as higher level mortal? Do I not kena the very same law if the same thing happens to me?
God forbid if anyone plant drugs into our homes and God forbid if they will be dupe to be mules.
Well then, continue to depend on God lor since you seem unable to do anything, even make arguments without him/her/it.
but he wasn’t duped into bring drugs. neither were drugs planted.
and this isn’t the first time he brought drugs in.
He smuggled drugs in 6 times and each time he got away with it,
he come back with drugs again.
And this is no small amount he smuggled- 47g.
That is 3 times the limit.
We need to close three eyes to let him get away with it.
I think the facts are clear.
He did it for a living, did it more than once and was carrying way above the limit.
Based on the act itself, he does not deserve any sympathy.
the only part that calls for sympathy is his background and age.
(which is not directly related to the crime).
unfortunately, sympathy due to circumstances does not resonate with everyone
and is split down to individual’s belief on how much control one has over destiny.
not everyone believes that circumstances is a gd excuse to do crime
- esp people who have been thru adversity and yet gone thru it.
to use vu’s case as an example of the injustice of MDP is not a gd one.
because it boils down to sympathy- which can differ from person to person.
I’m going to try post this; but I’ll assume it may not get posted at all.
Posters here are being duped by TOC. It is not about the MDP.
Yong’s case, is being highlighted because it is a cause championed by the Opposition.
If you dig or read deeply enough and are well aware of our political environment, you will know who M. Ravi is….who Seelan Pillay is…and the people who are ‘championing’ against MDP.
I am not a fan of the MIW, but the opposition are using the same tactics as the MIW (That is telling one-sided stories to prove a point).
Do not be fooled!!!
Moderating Editor: I agree that we are telling one side of the story… but it is the side that is not given exposure in the mainstream press (i.e. the other side of the story), so yes, we have a point – which is to ensure that Singaporeans have access to ALL the information. Whilst you point to the human rights activists as being part of an opposition strategy, you fail to recognise that they were human rights activists first, and I would go so far as to say that if they had a pro-government avenue to champion their causes from the beginning, they would not have to be associated so closely with the opposition.
Incredulous
That is incredulously ridiculous(see what i did there). IF Teo Chee Hean stopped taking naps and championed the same cause, people like you would be going on about how TOC is supporting MIW.
Incredulous
This is about a human life, a boy. Do you really see a human life that insignificant?
To Shake head
I meant exactly what you meant.
Lets all pray for Yong and hoped that the judges overturn his mandatory death sentence. Everyone who has expressed hope for this young man will be thankful to the judges for sparing a young man life.
What needs to be done, has to be done. Singapore’s mandatory death penalty for drug traffickers is world famous and I seriously doubt he would be ignorant of it. he took the risk knowingly and the price is his to pay, even if his intention was to help treat his mother’s illness. I don’t think there are many, if any, drug traffickers who do not have a story similar in some way to his. Knowing the dire consequences of trafficking drugs into Singapore, hardly anyone would want to do it if not for desperation. So does that mean we should commute the sentences of every single drug trafficker to life sentences? BTW, its not exactly cheap to keep a prisoner and its all tax payers’ money. I would rather the money be used on medical subsidies for terminal illness patients and elderly who need long term nursing care. Do we want to move into first place and replace USA as the country with the densest prison population? It is easy to be repentant when one is facing the results of their misdeeds, but more often than not, they revert to their old selves once they are let off the hook.
Human lives are not insignificant, but those who risk it knowingly simply deserve to lose it, however “noble” or desperate the reason is.
Staying the execution just gives more time for pointless objections driven by irrational sympathy. Just hang the druggie and get it over with.
“For the first time in his life, he was taught to discern right from wrong.”
I am against the madatory death sentence but this line made me laugh. Come on guys, just because we are fighting to remove the word “madatory” don’t mean we have to make this fella out to be innocent.
He reaped the benefits of a fiendish lifestyle ok ?
Anyone here spare a thought for the numerous victims of his that remained nameless ?
I really don’t care if he learnt English, French, or Swahili in prison. I just hope he remains there for a long long time.
why not use vui kong to prosecute the real criminal, the gang leader in KL? the ones behind the ‘mules’ are the ones that should be severely punished
Ebays problem has little to do with the market downturn. Had Ebay management not been manipulating listing numbers for many months the trend would be more obvious. Im betting that management views this economic crisis as a wondrous, beautifully timed, super dooper scapegoat.