24 Nov 2005

ABC Forum and Views on Capital Punishment in Singapore

Singaporeans who are against the death penalty are not alone.


Death Penalty a Sign of Society's Weakness

"Australians travelling overseas have to be respectful of the laws of those countries in which they visit.

It is not as though travellers aren't warned of the consequences of trafficking in drugs.

That said though, I do not believe in the death penalty. Countries that impose the death penalty do so as an easy fix and it is usually a domestic political decision.

It is hypocritical of a society to have laws against murder, for example, and yet put to death a murderer. Murder is murder whether it is State sanctioned or not. No person or society has the right to take another's life.

An execution cannot be reversed and the victim cannot be compensated. At present in the United States, the legal and illegal murder capital of the world, the death sentence has not deterred would-be criminals.

The death penalty treats the symptoms of crime rather that the root causes - it is simply an easy fix."

"
I think question we should being ask is if we are comfortable with the state killing someone in our name. In a western liberal democrcay all stake holders and in essence we can all have a responsobility for the actions of our government. I for one would be deeply uncomfortable and the thought of a society I was part of advocating state sanctioned killing."

Singapore Government Support Drugs lords?

"What about the people who produce the drugs? Are they not supported by the Singapore Government as we heard on Lateline last night? The usual hypocrisy! Anyway count yourselves lucky, compared to our poor Singaporean cousins, we can even talk like this in Australia!

They support the drug lords!

Don't blame the Singaporeans, blame the PAP!"

Sentencing is all wrong.

"Can any one give life to anyone? If the answer is no, u have no right to take another person's life.

Life is the most precious gift of nature and if it is taken away the person can never regret for the crime committed, so what is the use of capiatl punishment if the person is killed?

Is it fair to punish some one to scare others?

A governmetn is there to save lives and protect its citizens. How come a democratic government such as Singaporean, can hang a citizen? It is bullying and misuse of authority by government? What is the difference between govt and tessrorist if both take life in an open day ligh infront of a mother? The civilisation is heading towards its end I am afraid. Ego and illusions are changing human to a cruel being of this universe. Please appreciate our life, its is easy to bring up a 25 yr old human. Let him an opportunity to regret for his did."

CAPTAINS OF LIVES?!?!?

"Did you see the detail on the letter to Mrs. Nguyen from the Singapore Prison at Changi? It is awful that there is the Singapore Prison Service's "CAPTAINS OF LIVES" logo directly UNDERNEATH the prison superintendant's signature. That must have been very offensive to Mrs. Nguyen when she read it! Their spiel is to "...protect society through the safe custody of offenders, as well as the rehabilitation of inmates..." despite the fact that they want to hang Van Nguyen on 2nd December"

7 comments:

darrnot said...

Captain of lives....the irony is lost..

Anonymous said...

The prison superintendent should have have taken the trouble of customising a letter just for Mrs Nguyen, with the words: "HAIL THE HEROIN TRAFFICKER". But in any case all this would have been of little use: according to the lawyer the lady can't read much English. More than 2 decades living in Oz and that is her sorry plight. It speaks more about Oz and its very successful multicultural/multiracial society than about anything else. And yet this country wants to teach others how to behave? I don't think so. Opposition shadow Foreign Affairs Minister, Kevin Ruud, got it right: Singapore is treating Oz with contempt. And quite right too!

Anonymous said...

To anon above, since u like to sidetrack, how about addressing the poverty class in Sg the economic wonder? Ministers telling us $800 a month job is sufficient. Jobs re-design and re-packaging masquerading as new jobs created. S'poreans are looking at the PAP govt in contempt. And quite rightly too!

Anonymous said...

speaking of which, the whole idea of CPF is crap: robbing us of our hard-earned money AS IF to help us plan our own finances WITHOUT BEING ASKED but in fact to use it for invesments!!

Anonymous said...

karma, karma, karma, chameleon...

Heard of those lyrics? Boy George, no less...

PS: Not that it matters, but it wasn't the PAP which introduced the CPF, but the Lim Yew Hock government. But then I doubt many of the brains on this blog would know that, let alone string together a simple sentence in English. Best to get back to another song and its significance boys. Something profound, maybe Chan Mali Chan? :)

Anonymous said...

That's right S'poreans continue to be immature when it comes to handling their own money, but overnight we are mature enough to deal with casinos.. oops i meant 'integrated resorts'. Welcome to Sickapore.

Anonymous said...

if only Singaporeans who want the real democracy will risk standing up all together something could be done. They need to do what the South Americans do, take over the gov overnight and deport either; underground or overseas the bad surplus... if only the people stands up then there would be a chance of reform.

Down with Lee Dynasty NOW... ooohoo