In Singapore there is no forgiveness for drug crimes. The Government has convinced its citizens that going soft on drugs will bring down this wealthy society. The irony of a country so vehemently opposed to drugs in its own domain investing heavily in Burma, the source of the region's heroin supply, goes unreported in Singapore.
The Opposition politician Chee Soon Juan cites the Singapore Government Investment Corporation's contribution to the Myanmar Fund in the 1990s as an example of this hypocrisy. The fund is controlled by Lo Hsing Han, one of Burma's most notorious opium drug lords, through his Asia World Company. Lo's son, Stephen Law, is married to a Singaporean and is based in Singapore. Read the article in the SMH.
So those people that get all righteous about the right of this country to hang drug smugglers might like to consider the morality of giving comfort to this type of regime.
5 comments:
The Singapore government has but one objective in mind - to provide the best for its citizens. You cite our contributions to the Burma hunta. Do your research. As have many other countries. Including yours. Isn't saying, "We invest less in that country than you. We are not as complicit." more hypocritical?
You can debate all about the death penalty till the cows come home. Fact of the matter is that the death penalty has worked here, as with our strict approach to crime.
Reason why we clamp down on drugs here is because of our size and accessibility. Smugglers don't fly to Australia to transit. They do that in Singapore. So yeah, you guys should be thanking us - that these people aren't polluting the minds of your kids. Unless you're a druggie yourself who just missed the batch we just confiscated.
Why the hell should us Singaporeans capitulate to you Australians, or to any other country for that matter. When in Rome, do what the Romans do. This just smacks of ethnocentrism.
By the way. When you land in Changi Airport, you are warned about the death penalty. So there is absolutely no excuse.
I say hang.
Simply put, hanging people for any reason is barbaric and diminishes the humanity of those who condone it.
Burma, led by a military junta, is one of the world's worst regimes and one of the largest heroin traders.
It seems Singapore is adept at hanging the small fry but very slow to do anything about the key players that run this hellish trade.
Singapore should not remain one of Burma's major trading partners if it wants its anti-drug stance to be taken seriously.
It's one thing to keep the Burmese regime going, as Singapore helps to do, but quite another to pick up a young man for smuggling and then want to execute him. Even within the Singaporean 'mindset' this decision is bizarre as this young man has information on the 'big fish' and is prepared to provide evidence against them.
Your personal remarks about me are beneath contempt and reflect poorly on you.
The death penalty is wrong no matter which country practices it. If it is wrong, then anybody may say so. Freedom of speech carries far out over the water.
I kinda noticed you left out replying to the bit about australia doing business with the Junta as well...
I havent done research and dont intend to, can't be bothered really, cause i just stumbled on this blog by accident, but I do remember reading that most of our investments where with foreign interests in Burma, some banks if i recall correctly. so not directly with the junta but if you want to be picky then yes it could still be considered investing in the country and so by default also the junta.
The evidence he provided was inconsequential, runners would never know enough about the higher ups in the chain to prove useful. these people arent dumb. evil yes, but not dumb.
I pity the guy, but the fact is he knew what he was getting himself into.
Its our country, our laws, our way of life. people smuggle drugs to and through singapore at their peril. its not like we jumped out, grabbed the guy and suddenly decided to impose capital punishment. people have known about it for ages.
I don't understand people who claim that the death penalty does not lower crime rates. I've been to sydney and honestly I feel FAR safer here than there. drugs are everywhere? Australia is one of the easiest places on earth to get drugs. I can go out late at night and feel safe in singapore, not so in some of the more dodgy places in sydney.
another interesting point that was raised during the recent debate was the fact that there was no such circus in the media when the bali bombers were sentenced to hang.
any views on that?
-adrian j, another singaporean
Hi Adrian, when you murder an Australian you can expect to get our attention. The Bali bombers killed a lot of Australians but they were not Australian themselves. I agree that the death penalty is appalling in any circumstances, but I'm not sure this strengthens your argument. Frankly, you are living in a police state where it is against the law for more than 4-5 people to congregate in public - you have the illusion of feeling safer but you have no freedom of speech and your civil liberties are limited. What a way of life!
Post a Comment