Neighbourly threads, Neighbours' threats (Updated)

Singapore, to Down Under, then back again
Like a cycle or a ferris wheel
Hey, when the vacancy of a hangman crops up in Sin-land
A dissentin' Ozzie came aboard to give da helpin' hand?


Singapore sacks its hangman
From: Reuters From correspondents in Singapore
November 27, 2005

SINGAPORE has sacked its long-serving hangman, less than a week before the scheduled execution of Australian drug smuggler Tuong Van Nguyen.

"They called me a few days ago and said I don't have to hang Nguyen and that I don't have to work anymore," Chief executioner Darshan Singh said.
"I think they (the prison authorities) must be mad after seeing my pictures in the newspapers," Mr Singh said following reports he had been sacked after being identified by the Australian media.

Media reports said a new executioner was expected to be flown into Singapore this week to carry out the December 2 hanging of 25-year-old Nguyen, who was sentenced to death for carrying 396g of heroin while in transit at the island-nation's airport.

Mr Singh, a 74-year-old ethnic Indian, was reported in the Australian media to have conducted more than 850 hangings in his 50-year career. The reports said Mr Singh had wanted to retire, but the search for a replacement was unsuccessful.

Despite repeated pleas from Australia to reconsider clemency for the former salesman, Singapore has stood firm on its decision, saying that Nguyen Tuong Van was caught with enough heroin "for 26,000 doses" and that the Government would not allow Singapore to be used as a transit for illicit drugs.
Singapore has one of the world's toughest drug laws (Similar to Malaysia's).

Laws enacted in 1975 stipulate death by hanging for anyone aged 18 or over convicted of carrying more than 15 grams of heroin, 30 grams of cocaine, 500 grams of cannabis or 250 grams of methamphetamines.

Amnesty International said in a 2004 report that about 420 people had been hanged in Singapore since 1991, mostly for drug trafficking, giving the city-state of 4.2 million people the highest execution rate in the world relative to population.

I was working at the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur during the truial of Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers; both of them were also sent to the gallows in July 1986, despite widespread calls -- from Australian government and individuals -- for clemency. "DADAH IS DEATH" banners prominently greet overseas arrivals, so to plead "ignorance" is no defence.
And until the law is changed in the august Houses of Parliament in Southeast Asian countries, Australians and other "westren" peoples and their governments have to educate their peoples "When inRome, Do as the Romans do" applies.

The law is the law

As a Prime Minister John Howard did the necessary -- via the diplomatic channel, appealinmg for Nguyen's plea for clemency, which had been rejected by the Singapore President, on advice of the Singapore government.
Just as in the case of Barlow and Chambers, it would have been well nigh a "miracle" to believe the Head of State would grant clemency -- commuting the death by hanging sentence to life imprisonment.

The way some of Aussie politicians -- past and present -- tried to bring in "extraneous" factors to pressure the Singapore government, would, IMHO, have the opposite effect -- the noose around Nguyen;s neck would be tightened. No one responds kindly to neighbour's threats; seek benevolence in neighbourly threads.

Clemency grounds of aoppeal must rest on extraordinary factors -- medical condition like an IQ befitting a moron, extenuating circumstances considered from an average human's eye-lens. Nguyen's "reason" that he was carryiong drugs to save his brother's indebtyedness was not only counter-productive -- it reinforces the intent of the law to prevent a trafficker to those ill-gotten and quick bucks, at the expense of thousands of (young, innocent) lives -- mostly Aussies in Nguyen's case.

Maybe Singh's "sacking" is a temporary relief. I hope that "enthusiastic" aussie's offer to replace Singh would not be accepted. I also pray the Malaysian hangman's services would not be called upon.

Who knows, Nguyen's as well as his sympathisers' prayers, could be answered.

If no human comes forth to fill the Hangman's vacancy, Nguyen cam continue to hope. And hope must surely be with silents prayers of tears and repentance for a "wrongful" act.


IMPORTANT POSTSCRIPT:

*The United States of America is soon going to execute its 1,000th deathrow prisoner. An AP report datelined NEW YORK, carried by The Star, November 25, 2005 stated that (this week)ROBIN LOVITT is likely to earn the macabre distinction of being the 1,000th prisoner put to death since the US widely reintated capital punishment in 1976.
Lovuitt, 41, was convicted of fatally stabbing a man with a pair of scissors during a 1998 pool hall robbery in Virginia.

Will all those Aussies who yell "Stop the Death Penalty" at the Singapore government or any other Asian governments please lodge their protest at the nearest embassy? I'm holding my breath...


**Back home, there is a group of "young persons" who either carry a death wish, or are bloody fools; they openly taunt the Police with their drug habits and experimentations, also giving detailed information on the "safe use" of these banned rugs. Normally I leave such nincompoops alone --- but blogosphere is also a new medium of reach, and other YOUNGPERSONS shopuld also be cautioned lest they get carried away with their naivety and ignorance, then regret when the long arm of the law catches up with them.

Hey, deathwishers, citing grounds that such drugs are always available,if one is intent on getting the, and that other websites (quoting Google.com as one...)also carry such information on drug use is defence of the lowest IQ-occupant. Just because other countries tolerate certain modes of behaviour does not mean tghey are legal or proper. By publicly confessing you're doing drugs, you're giving these people enough rope to hang thee by the tallest tree in the county. Or are you vying for BolehLand's Braveheart Awards?

Well, if people wish to jump off the highest Twin Towers in da world, who is another Blogger to caution ftheir foolhardiness. But just don't influence your Younger Bros&Sis to go along, okay! They also like to shoot the messengers, don't they?


PPS: just to reassure thee that English standards in many newsrooms worldwide do NOT differ much in their deterioration -- down to the point where their jobs are not jeopardised.

"*The newspaper editor for the UNC* school newspaper
announces that there's enough money in the budget to
install a newsroom chandelier. The reporters huddle
and send a spokesman to say they're against it.

"Against it? Why?" the editor asks.

"First," the reporter says, "no one on the staff can spell
'chandelier' well enough to put it on an order form. Second,
I don't believe that anybody here can play one if we had it.
And third, if you got that much money, we think you should
get a hanging light instead, to brighten up the office!*"


mGf on a cloudy day, then stormy for two hours here in SS -- Welcome to the 4th estate slowly being absorbed into the real one. Just Desi's opinion, not Howsy's!
Don't shoot me, I'm not the messenger, I'm only a passenger! Dr Howdy's real culprit!