A drug trafficker by any other name
… is still a drug trafficker. In the eyes of the law, it doesn’t matter if you have personal or family problems, if you kill someone you are a murderer. Why should it be different for a drug trafficker?
Because that is what the Australian media and the opposition would have you believe. That because Nguyen Tuong Van was doing it to help resolve his twin brother’s debt that he deserves compassion. What about compassion for the lives of the drug addicts that he will help ruin if he hadn’t been caught?
Yes his death would be tragic but it wasn’t as if the zero-tolerance for drugs in the SE Asian region is not well-known. The rules are clear and he had chosen to dice with his life.
The government has done the right thing by exhausting all possible diplomatic and legal avenues. The opposition and the media insist there’s more to be done, including the boycott of Singapore and Singaporean companies. Let me address the hypocrisy in all this:
- If they are appealing on humanity grounds, then why didn’t they protest Shanmugam Murugesu’s hanging? Oh that’s right, he’s not Australian.
- If they are appealing on a matter of injustice, then why aren’t they protesting the way the USA is treating David Hicks in Guantanamo Bay? Oh wait, he might be a terrorist.
The USA can do whatever it wants, and the media and the opposition raised the barest of whimper. When Singapore exercises its sovereign right to prosecute with its laws they are suddenly “barbaric”?
There’s also the thinking that the drugs were merely in transit in Singapore and that they were meant for Australia (read: Australian addicts). Really who are we trying to save here? If the laws do not apply inside Changi airport then it’d be a free for all – every drug trafficking syndicate would use Singapore as a transit hub with *more drugs* coming into Australia.
The way the media and the opposition has handled this leaves a lot to be desired. Rather than address the core issue of drug addiction, or targetting their vitriol at the drug syndicates, they target Singapore and its companies. If they are so worked up about one drug trafficker on death row in Singapore, wait till they get a load of nine in Indonesia.
And one last thing, the PM should go to his cricket game on Friday. Amidst all this hand-wringing, ppl forget that Nguyen is a convicted criminal. Since when did the PM change his schedule for a criminal? If you must have your minute of silence, do it but don’t try to impose your will on the majority of us who are sane and level headed about this.
24 Responses to “A drug trafficker by any other name”
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I agree with you. It is sad and misguided that he chose the drugs option in an attempt to resolve his family problem. Whatever happened to getting a loan?
Agree with you… totally!
cherryripe: or selling the house, car whatever …
darkharf: just so you know that there are actually ppl in this country who can separate the crime from the emotion.
btw, has your site exceeded the photobucket bandwidth or something? very hard to read.
I’m surprised not more Singaporeans are speaking out on this. Drugs suck, and I totally support the Singaporean government on this. In fact, I’m quite proud that they haven’t backed down under so much pressure.
IMHO, Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.
. . . against my will, my fate
A throne unsettled, and an infant state,
Bid me defend my realms with all my pow’rs,
And guard with these severities my shores.
From Machiavell’s The Prince.
andrew: I think to most Singaporeans (and for that matter, most of us who live or has origins from SE Asia) already know about the mandatory death sentences for drug trafficking/dealing because it has been drilled into us from young. For that reason alone, it doesn’t really create much attention over there.
As I’ve mentioned previously, the Aust. govt is doing the right thing by appealing for his life using diplomatic and legal measures. That is all that they can do. But to get all emotional and sometimes condescending about it is really pointless. In the end, sovereign countries reserve the right to practice their own laws. Just like we wouldn’t appreciate it if Singapore or Indonesia tell us how to do things, there’d be chaos if one country can tell another country how to run their courts.
The level headed ppl in this country know that when you go to another country, you respect the laws of that country.
He knew the rules of the games : if u get caught, u’ll get hang.
I’m sure he knew the rules before he embarked on this game.
Each country has different rules. S’pore is just doing what they preached.
I do feel for that man, but if we let him off, who’s next?
In any case, the kettle’s calling the pot black on hypocrisy… hahaha
Mooiness,
ok, you ain’t the first to complain about the Photobucket thingy. At first, I thought it was people’s browser error, but later on when I look at my scripts, then I realised it’s my own stupidness. Cos’ when I redo the blog scripts, I forgotten to change one of the url from Photobucket to my own domain, that’s why people have been getting the error message. Haha… I am a bimbo… But it’s ok now. So, I temporary restore my intelligence… LOL
spinnee: exactly – Singapore cannot let him off because it’d be chaos if they do.
darkharf: woohoo! Now I can leave comments again!
Mooiness, you mind if I add your blog to my links?
darkharf: no need to ask – add away!
Do you plant yourself in front of the pc like I do everyday? Your reply is fast… LOL
darkharf: well am at work so naturally in front of PC. Plus my comments go to my gmail (mooiness at gmail dot com) and I got Gmail notifier on my desktop. So as soon as they come in, I see them.
Mooi is stuck to the monitor and blogitor always, he used elephant glue.
Susah jadi orang SG, just because we’re a small city-country-state, we get scrutinized for almost every bits.
Tak boleh imagine bapak ku yang hari-hari tengok orang keluar masuk. No wonder he talked in his sleep, and most of them with the words “fine”. Lol.
Aku nak tinggal pat bulan lah kalau gini. Lol.
kynne: bulan? erm but no one there leh. Ah all countries are scrutinised to a certain extent. It happens so nothing to feel depressed about.
Mooi : It’s ok, I’m used to all of that, part and parcel living in any country, especially yang kenit-kenit, lol.
Berani buat, berani tanggung.
Wei, go record your voice, talking in Malay. Say… Saya suka Kynne. Hahahahaha!
kynne: wah lau so thick skinned! Wahhahaahha.
I need some form of entertainment lah, I’ve been stressed out since fasting month, until now and it will extend further till march 2006! So, can right? Record for me lah, then I’ll belanja you if we get a chance to jumpa. Hahahaha!
kynne: oh yeah your new diet eh. Kesian.
No promises about the recording, but I’ll see what I can do.
I’m quite surprised that there hasn’t been any backlash against Singaporeans in Perth.
I’ve already written about the death penalty on my blog, and seriously, I am getting sick of how many people keep going on about how inhumane the Singaporean government is.
I think it was really absurd that they wanted to have a minute’s silence for Nguyen. I mean, what did he do? It’s not like he died while serving in Iraq. It’s not like he was the one who discovered the cure for cancer.
Honestly.
starry: exactly which is what the PM said – the minute of silence is for war heroes and victims of disasters. To do it for Nguyen would be to cheapen it.
I totally agree with what you’ve said. although I personally don’t agree with the death penalty and don’t think people should be hanged for drug smuggling, people have to respect the laws for the country they are in. smuggling heroin into Singapore is just plain stupid, and if you do the crime, you do the time. people are just getting worked up because he happens to be an Australian. many people are hanged every year, not just in Singapore, but in other countries in the world (the death penalty is legal in 38 US states). those stories certainly don’t make the paper. people shouldn’t make Nguyen out to be a hero. like I said, I don’t agree with the death penalty, but I certainly don’t think people should have a minutes silence for a heroin trafficker!!
girlstar7: hear hear.
Many in the Singaporean community have opposed the execution of Murugesu in their own way, be it by signing petitions, handing out flyers, and attending vigils. In retaliation, the authorities banned the use of Murugesu’s face in any kind of medium meant for dissemination. It’s really sad that nothing has really changed, except the citizenship of the accused.
elia: and by the Singaporean govt. ban on the news of such protests, the less enlightened among us here in Oz (incl. the media and some politicians) tend to think of Singaporeans as one homogenous whole who support the death sentence wholeheartedly. This hasn’t been helped either by the Singaporean media’s one-sided potrayal of said support.
But at least this news has gone international – it will just take time for change. Until then, I think it’s still fair to say that if you traffick drugs in SE Asia then you are an idiot who’s asking for it. Not mentioning the lives that you would help ruin if you didn’t get caught either.