This was so disturbing. What do you think?
Hi Bessy,
This is a really sad thing. As you can imagine, there has been plenty of press coverage of this event here in Australia, especially given the amount of effort the government has expended to try and secure clemency for him, without avail.
Perhaps the most tragic thing is that Nyugen claimed that the only reason he was drug running was to pay off debts that his brother owed. If this is the truth then it just goes to show that the total inflexibility of the mandatory death sentence in place in Singapore is horrific. This was his first offence also, but none of these mitigating circumstances can be taken into account in the Singaporean judicial system. So the result is a life unmercilessely cut short.
They didn’t even allow his mother to give him one last hug for goodness sake
How do they sleep?
Bessy:My son is twenty-five and I saw his face when I read this. How awful to live in a society driven by fear, and worse to become a fly in their net. I read this a while ago and have a sick feeling in my stomach every time I think of it still. Barbaric swines. How do they sleep?
K: the same way Americans sleep when we are about to execute our
1000 person since reinstatement of the death penalty in the U.S.
We don’t have a high moral ground here.
Kropotkin
I agree, Krop. But… as much as drugs are evil killers, it is not the same as someone coming into your house and killing all your children with a machete. There is a difference in the crime. I can’t say I am not for the death penalty.
If someone hurt my kids, I would be on death row myself. When someone kills, I think they deserve the death penalty. Pushing the button would be hard for me if I weren’t involved in the crime, but if it was my loved one - I would not blink.
Hello F(r)iends,
Wait, he actually broke a law that was punishable by death?
I assume he did this knowingly… He got what he deserved.
Barbaric? Laws are established for a reason.
-Thirst
So I guess if we established a no tattoos law, you would be a happy camper in paying to get yours removed. Or hell… even getting them removed even if the gov’t -did- pay for you.
Just cause it’s a rule… doesn’t mean it’s right. I’m sure Hitler had a bunch of laws.
Anyways… 14 ounces is a fucking lot of Heroin… buddy should have known better to be dealin shit like that in Singapore… people get caned for spitting on the ground there.
It’s their country… their law, but not all laws should be carried out. That’s not even an eye for an eye… that’s, death for a gram.
I’m not a believer in prohibition, and the punishment seems very severe for the crime. But, there’s something to be said in respecting the laws of another culture. I recall when the American kid got caned for vandalizing some cars a few years back everyone was up in arms. Stuff like you can’t treat an American like that! Well guess fucking what- he didn’t break the laws in America, he broke the laws in Singapore. Obviously I feel bad for the kid who got hung, and worse for his family, but when in Rome…That’s a very serious capitol crime there.
I’m curious- is it the concensus here that capitol punishment is immoral in and of itself?
Phaedrus,
Good point. He had to be a fool to not have known. He was a mere child, that’s what killed me. I feel for his mother.
Thirst,
I loooove that new kitty. Your last one was disturbing me.
I have to agree with thirst. Someone walks into a forgein country with nearly a pound of Heroin on them, what do you know, he got executed. I mean yeah, the law is too harsh, no doubt, but it’s not like they broke into his house in Australia and murdered him. Druggie should have kept his ass home.
I do feel real bad for his parents though, I’m sure that was just the last in a long serious of agonies that child brought them.
I happen to be against the death penalty in nearly every sort of situation, by the way.
Singapore has very hard laws on something like spitting on the ground. It is a strict country. Attempting to bring drugs into a country like that is an act of stupidity. Meanwhile, I assume that they as a country do not want their people threatened. It’s too bad that he died, but it’s what he signed up for.
Who doesn’t know that attempting to smuggle that much heroin out of Singapore is risky behaviour? We can’t impose our laws and beliefs on Singapore…Nguyen Tuong Van was playing russian roulette and shot himself in the head.
Your title say it all Bess – heartbreaking.
I’ve been consumed by this for several days now and I’m drained. I’ve actually been coming to ILP to forget about it… and now its here. 
I haven’t the energy to be angry or say anymore on this tonight except, I just don’t get this world; I never have, and I never will.
You can rationalize all you want in this case about the boy’s stupidity, but it still breaks my heart.
Honestly, the death penalty is an easy way out for some of these lowlifes. I say put them in the smallest room in a prison with nothing but a bed and three boring squares. Make them do the hard time. Don’t give them TV, video games and/or an education to better themselves. They had that chance and they lost it.
I remember a while back when I had been living in Amsterdam, I travelled by bus and ferry to England. It was only when I had arrived safely accross the border that I realised that I had a bunch of LSD caps (a very long time ago people) very nonchalantly tucked in the back pocket of my jeans. My God what a stupid move that was. Anyway, I didn’t get caught.
Travelling in Asia is a very different story. We all knew the implications of travelling through Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan… The drug laws are very strict, one simply does not risk it. One wouldn’t even want to be caught using much less trafficking…I would imagine that to traffick heroin through Singapore or Malaysia, one would have to be desperate! Still the death penalty is horrific. Inhumane and is a sign of mankind’s loss of humanity.
A
I agree about the inhumanity (in theory) but if you were a parent of a bludgeoned child, you might change your view, Angel.
I am not a parent. But I do understand that even if it is difficult to fathom that there is a reason for everything and that the reason is often veiled in order for us to grow in our awareness. Growing pains. For myself, some of my greatest lessons have also been my most excruciating experiences, not to say that they all are painful. If we grasp how the process of growing works it doesn’t have to be painful. Every single living creature including man, animal and spirit are restricted by the laws of cause and effect. Not a single being gets to escape this very perfect and beautiful design. It’s not easy to get our head around, but it is not the head that needs to understand. It’s the heart.
We are immortal, we can never be harmed.
A
By the way, I hate the death penalty as well, but the story has that “what the hell,” quality to it.
This happens to people quite frequently - why has this case stirred your heart so?
Bessy
So that's what should have happened to this guy then? The families protesting would have gone on for decades!