How does his brother feel? Can you imagine the guilt he'll be carrying. It's no secret that there is zero tolerance for drugs in Asia. People should be smarter than this.
Singapore's a country that I've got a lot of experience with and there's a lot ot interested stuff in this thread but just wanted to touch on this. Yes, you're correct that Singapore is essentially a benevolent dictatorship. In many ways its similar to Mussolini's Italy in regard to the dominance of a single party and even a single family along with a high degree of government investment and outright involvement in the local economy. They are hard but I wouldn't say they are all that fair. The ruling Peoples Action Party (PAP) and the Lee family have used the mechanisms of the state and court to punish, jail and drive out political opponents. They've smeared opponents as being homosexuals, a crime in Singapore, and have sued both internal and external critics in Singapore courts for slander for the type of political criticism that we would consider mild. Their persecution of political opponents has occasionally caused friction with Malaysia when Singapore has accused Malaysia of sheltering prisoners, ie allowing political opponents passage through Malaysia. Unlike many regimes though the PAP and Lee family aren't corrupted by money and run a very clean ship in that regard but do have the sense that they are the state and anything negative towards them is considered as an assault on them is an insult on the state.
I agree with your assessment. The city-state nature of Singapore is probably the best bastion to house a benevolent dictator. It'd be interesting to see how many generations the Lee family legacy will last.
Something to chew on: "In an effort to stop Singapore from becoming a narcotics hub, more than 420 prisoners have been hanged in Singapore since 1991, most of them for drug trafficking, according to Amnesty International. That figure is "shocking," Amnesty said. Singapore has the highest execution rate in the world relative to its population, according to a U.N. report on capital punishment published in July this year. An average of 6.9 people were executed per 1 million over 1999 to 2003, the report states. The figure is nearly twice as much as for the nation with the second-highest rate of executions, Saudi Arabia at 3.66." (link) Are Singaporeans really proud of that? I bet if they make it into law stipulating that thieves be chopped off their hands, rapists be mutilated, the rest of the world should accept it as well.
Before entering Singapore on a plane they give you this little leaflet informing you of their stiff drug penalty. Beautiful place Singapore, just don't break the rules. I was in Singapore when the American kid got his behind whacked back in 1994.
Yes - it is harsh in my opinion. But what are we to do? Operation Singapore Freedom? I think we should respect their soveriegnty. This isn't even worth a sanction of any type of any kind. Many Middle Eastern nations and African nations have harsh laws as well.
That's a very Singaporean attitude and its one that Lee Kuan Yew and others bring up all the time to international critics. To paraphrase if anyone criticizes them on human rights they will say look at how successful our country is and the standard of living our citizens have.
What if the executor miss? Would the government bill them another $.10 for another bullet or would they let the guy bleed to death?
And at Changi Airport one of the first things you see is a sign saying "Death to Drug Traffickers" nearby the sign saying "Welcome" in several languages. As a side story up until the late 80's they used to force men with hair longer than the back of their head to get haircuts before they were allowed to leave the airport. Up until the mid 90's they really cracked down on p*rn so you were about as worse off if you were caught bringing a Penthouse in as a gun. They started relaxing that when they realized Singapore's native population was declining, particularly ethnic Chinese, so they relaxed p*rnography laws and started a public campaign to get more breeding.
I think that's very wrong on the Singapore side. If that argument is accepted, nobody can say anything about any advanced countries. In other words, once a country becomes rich, the government can do whatever they want to the citizens, without worrying about any international critics. But on the other hand, international critics never really affect anything.
However, should international critics have much say in another country's domestic policies though? While the international community can complain and say that this is a human rights violation, this isn't a case where the country is forcing unpopular laws down the throats of the populace, nor is it a case where a minority is being markedly segregated. There is no doubt the penal code for Singapore is very tough, but that is all very subjective to the differences in values. In fact, I think Heroin pushers are the bain of our existance. In our country, we punish people who commit murders with death penalty. In many ways, heroin pushers are much worse than murderers. While murderers take lives away, heroin pushers tortures it's victim with addiction. To conclude, if the guy did commit the crime, the punishment is just IMO.
I really hope everyone can be so tolerant towards other countries, I mean some of the other single party, iron fist, zero tolerance for dissents, and family ruling countries. International community including US do have lots of say about other countries' domestic policies. On a side note, I don't have problem with death penalty, and I don't have problem to execute drug dealers. However, I do see some double standards here.
I generally turn my cheek the other way when critics are complaining about human rights violations. While some of those complaints are very much legit, most of the time, the critics doesn't pay attention to the notion of a secure government. Regardless of circumstances, the government is your best bet in having your human rights protected. If the government is not stable, there is nobody out there to protect your rights other than protection from dissenting warlords who are trying to overthrow the government. Few countries have the security that U.S. have and sometimes quelling the dissent is the best option to protect the masses. However, people that complain about human rights in China don't understand the circumstances. While they are now a powerhouse economically, they are at a stage socially similar to U.S. in the early industrial revolution and before unionization. Due to the economic disparity between the rich and poor, they can be in a major catastrophy if the poor strikes or rebels. It's a very delicate social environment there nowadays. I don't doubt there will be major social reforms in China very soon, but it's going to happen naturally within it's populace. A modern nation isn't built overnight, and people need to understand that. U.S. certainly wasn't born overnight.
Pretty harsh, I don't agree with Singapore but their are many more unjust acts by other nations. But really, can't the mother hug her son once more before he dies? The only reason I can fathom they aren't allowing this is PAP needs to be seen as cruel and inhumane.
Interesting question, if US kills every drug related inmate currently in the system, would that stop 90% + of the drug flowing into this country? Just curious what everone thinks.
hear of the wto? nafta? when mtbe was banned by cali the nafta courts demanded almost a billion? overall i agree. you have to respect national soverignty. however do they really have to hang the person? aren't there more humane ways of killing? and i agree its absolutely ridiculous that the mother isn't allowed to hug the guy. give me a break.
I think it's quite obvious that the government is trying to send a message about drug smugglers in this country. Perhaps it's as brutal as the dark ages. The country has the right to do it IMO. Who knows? It just might be effective.
No, but it would probably increase the cost of business for drug traffickers and the cost will be passed on to the consumers. As long as consumer buys, the business will be there. Only thing to do is to legalize certain drugs and to levy HEAVY taxes IMO. However, certain drugs will have to stay illegal (e.g. heroin, crack, cocaine).
