Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - on the capital punishment : there has been a lot of commotion over this Nyugen death sentence thingy, all over the fact that he was caught for drug trafficking. honestly, personally, truly, im quite indifferent over the death sentence. in fact, im quite indifferent over death itself since when we die is really not up to us anyways, be it at the gallows or somewhere else.

the whole commotion started with our dear friends down under (Aussies) screaming bloody blue murder over our court's desicion to hang Nyugen. its really no surprise since they are against the death sentence. in fact, Aussies seem to be against ANY country that tries their citizens under foreign law!

take the female model case in Indonesia for example. despite the evidence, the Aussies seem to weave in an intricate (and rather improbable) story of how she was framed. and now, they want Singapore to commute the death sentence under grounds that, well, they don't like the death sentence.

you know, i don't like toast and jams for breakfast. and oddly enough, thats what they have in Australia. and since i don't like it, im going to say that all Aussies should stop having toast for breakfast and have half-boiled eggs, kaya toast and a cup of really crappy coffee for breakfast.

Why?

Because, well, i don't like toast!
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that sounds totally absurd, yes? what they have for breakfast and how they have it is none of my business since that is how they do things over there. in the same way, its totally absurd for them to tell us what to do with drug traffickers just because they don't do what we do, i.e, hang them.

one thing that Aussies should come to realise is this. just because you do things differently in your country from others doesn't bestow the right for your citizens to be above the law in other nations. if you're in another land, you jolly well abide by their rules and suffer the consequences that follow if you break them. nobody cares if you abolished the death sentence because the crime is in Singapore, not Australia. and so simply put, you pay by Singapore's rules - death.

and of course, not just Aussies, but some S'poreans are lobbying against Nyugen's sentence.
here's what Mr Wang has to say:

... where were they when Took Leng How was sentenced to death for killing Huang Na, an eight-year-old little girl? How come they didn't organise a solidarity event for Took?

See, if as a matter of principle, you stand against capital punishment all the way, then you can't pick and choose your convicts. You can't say, "Ooh, I hate people who kill children, I shan't support Took. But Nguyen looks like a handsome young man and he has a twin-brother sob story, so I'll support him. Shanmugam Murugesu has two kids and a poor old mother - I'll support him too."

That's nonsense. If you stand against capital punishment - you stand all the way (like Amnesty International does). It shouldn't matter what the crime was, or whether the criminal has a sob story or looks handsome or not - you stand all the way. On the basis that a life is a life. Took's life is a life too.

of which i wholeheartedly agree. but the crux of the matter is this.

If you commit a crime in another nation, you pay for it by their laws. period.
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and so therefore, to all Aussies out there, deal with it. the death sentence on Nyugen will not be commuted. if Singapore stood up against the US in caning the American citizen for vandalising, what on earth makes you think that Singapore will give in to you?

Singapore has every right to punish its convicts. you on the other hand, have no right to force Singapore to withdraw its hand.


C.K blogged at 3:28 AM