By Steve Butcher, Singapore
December 4, 2005
A SENIOR Singapore nun has taken the dramatic step of calling on her Government to drop the death penalty, following the execution of Melbourne man Nguyen Tuong Van.
In a move that may anger Singapore's leaders, Sister Susan Chia, province leader of the Good Shepherd Sisters, described the death penalty as cruel and inhumane. It violated the right to life, she said.
It has been nuns from the Marymount Convent, part of Sister Chia's constituency, who have cared and comforted Nguyen's mother and twin brother here for the two weeks before Friday's hanging.
Singapore, which has always been sensitive to internal criticism, enforces the mandatory death penalty for serious crimes, including the heroin offence Nguyen committed in 2002.
Sister Susan Chia appealed in the carefully worded statement, issued yesterday by Nguyen's lead lawyer, Lex Lasry, QC, for "our leaders" to seek alternatives to the death penalty.
She said in the opening line that the Good Shepherd Sisters shared the "deep sorrow" his mother, Kim Nguyen, and twin brother, Khoa, felt at his execution.
The statement continued: "As we try desperately to soften a mother's pain at the loss of her son, we grapple with the reality of the death penalty.
"The death penalty is cruel, inhumane and it violates the right to life.
"Each life is always precious, even when punishment is required.
"While we want to make our streets drug-free and safe for our children, should it be at the expense of terminating the life of a person? Punishment and justice must always include mercy.
"We join the many voices throughout the world in appealing to our leaders to search for alternatives to the death penalty."
Mr Lasry told The Sunday Age the Good Shepherd Sisters "wanted to make a stand".
"They adored Van, and they wanted to make a stand because they were so affected by his death, and this (statement) is their way of doing it," he said.
Meanwhile, Nguyen's closest friends, Kelly Ng and Bronwyn Lew, said Nguyen, 25, made them keep promises — Ms Ng was told not cut her long hair for the next seven years — and he promised to find a boyfriend for Ms Lew.
Ms Ng told Nguyen after he made his request: "Mate, I love you, but at least let me get rid of my split ends."
Both were yesterday handed by officials from the Australian high commission letters from Nguyen that were included in a box of personal possessions from his death row cell in Changi Prison.
Arriving back in Melbourne yesterday morning Nguyen's lawyer, Julian McMahon, said: "Despite the cruel sadness (of the execution), Van has made sure his mother has come to a sense of peace, and we are all hoping she will be able to keep that sense of peace over the coming months."
Mr McMahon said he was impressed by the way Khoa, a convicted heroin trafficker, had supported his mother during their time in Singapore.
When asked what he would remember most about Van, Mr McMahon said: "A steady journey to be a good person."
With MARK RUSSELL
14 comments:
How dare a nun speak up against extinguishing of human life by the PAP?! She should know her place in our society, which is to take care of the old, sick, poor and neglected. People forgotten and discard by the PAP govt.
I CAN SEE YOU GOT THE WRONGED MINDED NUN SINGAPORE ... LETS ALL PRAY THAT THIS NUN DIE FASTER ...
Unless you've been living under a rock you'll know that plenty of opposing views have been expressed in the papers. I see you're still trying to milk a few drops out of the death.
Nguyen's brother also a convicted trafficker
Aussie court suppressed fact that he was a drug runner and given jail term for savage attack on teen
SYDNEY - THE brother of an Australian drug courier hanged in Singapore is a convicted drug trafficker and had been sentenced to jail for a savage samurai sword attack, but details of the case were suppressed due to fear that they could jeopardise clemency appeals.
KHOA'S CRIMINAL BACKGROUND was not publicised in Australia, in order to avoid jeopardising his twin brother's plea for clemency in Singapore. -- EPA
The Australian reported yesterday that Nguyen Tuong Van's brother, Nguyen Khoa Dang, in 1998 repeatedly slashed a teenager with a samurai sword, seriously wounding the 17-year-old's arm, buttock, ankle and left knee.
He was sentenced to three years in jail for the attack, which resulted in the victim requiring plastic surgery.
But County Court judge Meryl Sexton suspended the jail term because Khoa's 'personal situation...(had) become so traumatic because of (his) brother's situation', the newspaper reported.
The judge ordered that the sentence be suspended partly because his twin brother was awaiting execution in Singapore.
She also banned publication of case details while Australian officials repeatedly appealed to Singapore not to hang Nguyen, said The Australian.
Details of Khoa's conviction could be published yesterday for the first time after Judge Sexton lifted a publication restriction imposed to avoid jeopardising Ngu- yen's plea for clemency.
Khoa faced court in June last year, where he pleaded guilty to riotous assembly and recklessly causing serious injury.
In December 1998, Khoa was involved in a brawl between Asian and Islander youths in a park in the northern Melbourne suburb of Reservoir.
The prosecution alleged that Khoa armed himself with a samurai sword and struck Glen Kohu repeatedly, causing him serious injury.
The Australian reported Judge Sexton as saying that Kohu was confined to a wheelchair after the attack, forced to leave school and had since struggled to stay employed.
The trial took more than four years to reach the county court, partly because of concerns about the effect it would have on the Singapore trial of Nguyen, who was arrested in December 2002, according to The Australian.
In April 2003, Judge Sexton agreed to adjourn the case because of Nguyen's trial in Singapore.
'Amongst the reasons for my doing so which I can refer to was the effect on you of having your twin brother awaiting trial in Singapore for a capital offence,' The Australian quoted her as saying.
Khoa is a convicted drug trafficker.
He had also previously served time for drug-trafficking offences and was released from prison in July 2002.
Nguyen claimed in his trial that he had been trying to smuggle heroin to pay for his brother's mounting legal bills, partly incurred by the court case that followed Khoa's involvement in the brawl.
The court heard that Khoa, now 25, left home against his mother's wishes, abused drugs and alcohol and was a frequent customer of Melbourne's Crown casino.
Nguyen's arrest had resulted in 'an increase in (the) level of (Khoa's) maturity' but he had relapsed into heroin use in 2003, possibly as a result of his brother's arrest in Singapore, The Australian quoted Judge Sexton as saying.
Khoa was in Singapore last week for the execution of his brother.
Nguyen's family left last night for Australia with his body.
Mr Lex Lasry, who has been the family spokesman, addressed the media although the family members kept mum at Changi Airport yesterday evening.
Asked about Khoa's criminal record, Mr Lasry said he did not know about it and dismissed it as irrelevant.
'I don't have a view about it,' he said.
'I've got some views about Khoa and where he's going from here and I don't want to say anything about that.'
A big thank you to the nun for standing up for herself. Every singaporean should follow her example.
My kudos to the nun. We need more people like her here. Before someone labels me a religious zealot for supporting the nun's position, let it be known that I am speaking as a HUMAN.
Human beings are embodiments of life and everything we do and aspire in the motions of the life cycle (go to school, start a career, seek companionship, get married, start families etc)all pepetuate life. To be human, is to be alive. So, when someone else (read THE STATE) takes away that which the natural laws have ordained (that too when alternative options to address the drug issue are at hand), it is time to ask questions.
I am surprised how little debate there is on the comments, and hey, no one actually disagrees with one another. Because i cannot think of a stronger deterrent than the death penalty to any crime, i support it. Unless you consider torture, or buttsex, will life imprisonment or anything else be a stronger deterrent than capital punishment? No.
Its not about Ngyuen alone, but about the death penalty as a deterrent. It is effective, it works, that's what matters. We have to consider the big picture, if Nguyen is shown mercy, then anyone can smuggle in drugs and hope to be given mercy.
Well, you might get offended at my comment as it goes against the general sentiment of this blog as a whole, and I gather that you are also against censorship. So, i dare you to delete or edit it in any way.
The way this blog works is that opposing views are ignored.
Only if someone, from a religious organization or otherwise, can come up with a better way to deter drug trafficking, would the death penalty be abolished. People who protest the death penalty ignore the casualties from drugs.
One more man may face the death penalty- Saddam. And the difference is that the death penalty in this case would be more of a punishment than a deterrent. So let's see if anti-drug protestors stick to their guns, and stick up for Saddam.
By the way, Khoa's own recurring addiction, even after being jailed and for drug trafficking demonstrates that it's an impossible task to get out of drugs once you are in them. It demonstrates the ineffectiveness of jail as a deterrent to drug trafficking. That living example debunks a lot of the anti-capital punishment arguments. Hence, the claim that someone can be rehabilitated and thus shouldn't be hanged, is just a claim.
Nguyen's brother is charged with Samurai attack and it seems drug trafficking. It seems both brothers have been involved in drug trafficking and used the ill gotten gains to buy a house.
You anti-death penalty guys and traitor Chee Soon Juan are all fools.
i wouldnt go so far as to call chee a traitor. But chee is indeed one of the few opposition politicians who work to democratize Singapore. But unfortunately, while too little democracy is totalitarian, too much does a country no good.
Whineey said:
"Unless you consider torture, or buttsex, will life imprisonment or anything else be a stronger deterrent than capital punishment? No."
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Actually I think life imprisonment is as strong or even stronger a deterrent than the death sentence. For all practical purposes, if a person cannot be deterred by the idea of being locked up for the rest of his life, I don't think he would be deterred by the idea of being hanged either.
It is like a devil-and-the-deep-blue-sea situation. Both are qualitatively very different, but both are also very extreme.
It is like telling a person "If you commit this crime, I will dig out both your eyes";
or proposing an alternative:
"If you commit this crime, I will cut off your testicles."
Both are qualitatively quite different - they lead to quite different consequences - but if one does not deter a particular person, the other is also unlikely to deter.
By the way, Whineeey, assuming you are male and have been convicted of the relevanr crime, which form of punishment would you prefer?
lol, can i have none of the above?
Seriously, if i was convicted of the crime, i personally, from my point of view as the individisual would want to get off with a light sentence (few years jail perhaps). But from the collective point of view, its better if the rule of law remains, and serving as deterrent.
Firstly, that's true, if life imprisonment doesn't deter the offender, then maybe hanging won't. But compared to places like america or cambodia, there is considerably less drug abuse here. The thing is, the measures work, maybe not on Nguyen, but for the xth drug trafficker who thought of bringing their stuff in here.
However, if we ask the question, "if the death penalty is an effective deterrent, would a life sentence be as effective?". Then that is really a question worth asking. Because i don't think the government has ever considered whether life, rather than capital punishment would still serve its purpose well as a deterrent.
Think Singaporean, your conclusions are faulty. They're based on what you SUPPOSE, not objective statements. Of course his DEFENSE lawyer would say that he is rehabilitated. What's a defence lawyer for? If fail rehabilitates everyone, then there should be no such thing as a repeat offender, right?
Love and care? Have you ever attempted to provide love and care for a hardened criminal? You may suggest it, but you suggest it for the Government to implement, do you not? You should really put thought into action and voluteer at some children's homes, who take in kids from families destroyed by drugs, alcohol etc, and see the far-reaching effects of drugs. It is truly beyond the control of anyone.
When convicts get out of jail, they find themselves with a record and the only option is to revert back to crime. You can bet the drug lords will be approaching the Nguyen family soon after. Their desperate conditions remain, and a heroin addiction doesn't go away easily.
After all this Singapore-bashing, let's hope that some kind samaritan in aus offers to pay off his loanshark loan. That would actually be effective in saving the family.
the bottom line is that our s'pore govt does whatever it wants and at the same time claims that most s'poreans approve of those actions. i for one would definitely not vote for a party that i consider as only paying lip service but doesnt really listen.
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