I’ve seen crap loads of news stories on this, but don’t get involved with the politics, because frankly, if he can do the crime, he can do the time. It’ll sure teach other druggo idiots a lesson.
It’s just too hard to ignore, it’s just IN YOUR FACE all the time.. SG refuses to put it in the media, and AU shoves it in everyone’s faces – polar opposites!
I do think they want to make an example out of him, at the end of the day. Pretty mean, but I guess it works.. I REALLY REALLY don’t want to bring drugs into the country now 😉
I’ve seen crap loads of news stories on this, but don’t get involved with the politics, because frankly, if he can do the crime, he can do the time. It’ll sure teach other druggo idiots a lesson.
It’s just too hard to ignore, it’s just IN YOUR FACE all the time.. SG refuses to put it in the media, and AU shoves it in everyone’s faces – polar opposites!
I do think they want to make an example out of him, at the end of the day. Pretty mean, but I guess it works.. I REALLY REALLY don’t want to bring drugs into the country now 😉
Ugh, depressing news. Time to spread more love into this world!! 😛
I know.. impossible to avoide too, it’s on every single day on every single news channel :X
sigh. i think i’ll feel horrible on friday too.
After all, don’t u agree that each time you switch on the tv, radio, or read the news..it’s about this?
Well, I don’t agree with capital punishment for drugs too. I really do hope Singapore actually changes its law next time, or gradually.
Yes – it’s all over Au news.. but SG news has conveniently not been reporting it.. ugh.
I think if they do away with death penalty for drugs, it’ll be at least be life imprisonment – i dunno what’s worse considering how awful jail life can be :X
yup. I think sg news is censoring that a little too much.
Yes, I just heard it again on the late night news as I type this ….
Life imprisonment is good for the mom I guess. But, for the sg govt, it cost money I guess.
Get the Australian Govt to pay for his life imprisonment lah!
Hehe THAT would make the people mooooooooore upset, I bet! 😛
Off topic but I saw your parents today! At Esplanade, for a Lunchbox free concert. 🙂
Oooh haha, you recognise them? You should’ve said hi! It’s a small world hey 😛
You bet I do. 😛 Was like “Why are these two people so familiar looking…ohhhh!” The show was starting soon and I was on duty, so I didn’t say hi. If it happens again, I will! 🙂
Ugh, depressing news. Time to spread more love into this world!! 😛
I know.. impossible to avoide too, it’s on every single day on every single news channel :X
sigh. i think i’ll feel horrible on friday too.
After all, don’t u agree that each time you switch on the tv, radio, or read the news..it’s about this?
Well, I don’t agree with capital punishment for drugs too. I really do hope Singapore actually changes its law next time, or gradually.
Yes – it’s all over Au news.. but SG news has conveniently not been reporting it.. ugh.
I think if they do away with death penalty for drugs, it’ll be at least be life imprisonment – i dunno what’s worse considering how awful jail life can be :X
yup. I think sg news is censoring that a little too much.
Yes, I just heard it again on the late night news as I type this ….
Life imprisonment is good for the mom I guess. But, for the sg govt, it cost money I guess.
Get the Australian Govt to pay for his life imprisonment lah!
Hehe THAT would make the people mooooooooore upset, I bet! 😛
hmm, very good articles indeed. mind if I paste the links on my blog?
I think the death sentence is too harsh a punishment, but it’s the law here, so I doubt SG will change it. it’ll affect the credibility of the system then.
he’s just passing through SG.. yups. but I think it’ll be irresponsible of SG if they were to let him pass through just cos he wasn’t intending to smuggle the drugs into SG. but still, the death sentence is a really sad thing la.
I would prefer life-long imprisonment over death for criminals anytime.
No, go ahead and copy/paste 🙂
I’m pretty much 100% certain SG won’t change their laws just because another country tells them to. Frankly, I feel if anyone thinks it’s a “bad” law, then just don’t GO to that country – it’s really simple! 😉
I can understand that whole rationale of killing people with his drugs, but I just don’t agree with it. It’s not like he is force feeding heroin to people. We all have the choice to say no to drugs, but there is no choice involved when some psycho decides to shoot you. I guess I just don’t sympathize with drug users…both parties are guilty in my eyes and I don’t think the Singapore punishment fits the crime.
If drug smuggling warrants the death penalty, then so many other crimes should warrant the death penalty too, such as rape, abuse, kidnapping, or torturing/killing of animals- basically anything with malicious and ill intent involved. I guess what it comes down to is how severe one views a crime and every country/person will have different views on what’s a fair punishment and what isn’t. Too bad the world isn’t so black and white…it’d make things so much easier! 😛
I don’t think the punishment fits the crime either. But I doubt australia asking Singapore to change it’s laws will work.. since the SG govt doesn’t exactly report into, or have to listen to, the AU govt (and vice versa)
I think you make a great point – hard to draw the line at what’s fair – life imprisonment? if not, 50 years? what about 45? 40? everyone draws the line differently :X
But Australia isn’t asking them to change their laws at all, they’re just asking for clemency which SG does have the ability to do.
I believe SG law is the death penalty for convicted drug smugglers – asking for something less is in effect asking to modify their laws?
A different sentence is pretty arbitrary – one person would consider 50yrs reasonable, another would consider 30yrs reasonable – so who to listen to if everyone thinks they have a right to modify another country’s law? I say – never visit SG if the law’s too crap and harsh 😉
Off topic but I saw your parents today! At Esplanade, for a Lunchbox free concert. 🙂
Oooh haha, you recognise them? You should’ve said hi! It’s a small world hey 😛
You bet I do. 😛 Was like “Why are these two people so familiar looking…ohhhh!” The show was starting soon and I was on duty, so I didn’t say hi. If it happens again, I will! 🙂
damn it’s harsh over there. too bad the us govt supports drugs and let them enter the country, and nope no death penalty, just a few months in jail. The US system does kinda suck. Takes forever for the death penalty to occur…
Hee, you’re naughty 😛 I think the point is that the death penalty is too harsh, no matter what!
But no matter what people say, I’m still FOR the death penalty for certain crimes- it’s a good deterrant 😉
if we had the death penalty here for drugs there would be NO drugs here, but we got all those damn no death penalty groups, this is the problem here, everyone and their sister, mother, uncle, and dog has an opinion and an express it however loud they want. argh…can’t we just kill all the stupid ppl?
I’m probably in the minority too.. I do like harsher punishments – it stops people from being naughty 😉
Reading that first article riled me up so much, my morning is spoilt.
The whole article seems kinda snobbish without any regards to the subject just because he is a minority/with an impressionable, drug addict of a twin brother. Too much assumption on his part. How can anyone come to term that a govt is going to hang him this Friday?? With a twin brother like Khoa, of course he’d be told of the drug syndicate, it’s totally selfish and unfair for the ‘columnist’ to have those assumptions.
I don’t know about others but I’m not asking the govt to change its law but to see the injustice done to the convicted; punishment overweighs the crime committed. Esp one that is made mandatory that gives the judge no hand in carrying out justice. If a person is caught passing through Singapore with 15.5gms of heroine he’d be hanged too. And the no. of hits given quoted by the govt is greatly exaggerated. The crime wasn’t even intended to be committed in Singapore. Plus he has helped all he can in tracking down the real perpetrator. We’re hanging a person for just passing through Singapore airport. Heck, he didn’t even go through the immigration. Even Malaysia knows the difference between entering and passing through a country (traffickers caught passing through given a relatively long sentence, but never hanged).
I cannot stand the irony of it: The injustice of the govt doing ‘justice’ to a ‘convict’. This case is much worse than Michelle Leslie’s which caused much furore just because of 2 tiny pills.
I think the rationale is – he can kill hundreds of people by smugging drugs in. If a person walked into a shop and shot a hundred people, he’d be hung too.
Im actually REALLY glad that SG caught him – I hate drugs and I hate drug smuggles. I think the punishment’s harsh though.. maybe it’s to make an example so other people are too bloody scared to try and smuggle drugs in in future 😉
That’s the thing; he’s not smuggling it into Singapore, he’s just passing through and Singapore put him on trial and decide to hang him. He’s not going to kill any Singaporean. It’s absurd!
At the most, he should just be sentence to a relatively long sentence because he’s passing through at the SG airport.
How can you kill someone when the intention is not there? If he’s tried in Australia, he might still have his life.
I don’t think it’s responsible though, for a country to say “you’re just passing through, i’ll let some other country deal with your crime” 😛
I agree with your last sentence. At the end of the day, I suppose the law is the law – SG is famous for it’s drug trafficking punishment – I wouldn’t even consider doing it, and if I get caught, I wouldn’t get angry since SG is really transparent about drugs=death penalty
Well, I think snubbing out a life is overly-responsible for SG to do just for the trafficker to pass through the country.
I don’t know if similar cases like this have happened before but this is the 1st time I’m reading about a person hanged for passing through. I don’t think Nguyen is aware he could lose his life for being in transit in SG.
I guess ignorance cost him his life.
Yeah, I’m sure he regrets it now but it’s too late 🙁
I like this quote from an Australian:
“Personally I think if you go into a country you have to abide by their laws, and you have to live with the consequences.”
“It does seem harsh but they [the Singaporeans] can’t change their minds at this late stage because it will undermine their system,” she said.
There. It’s all about the sovereignty issue. Just like love, it blinds one and undermines the humanity issue when it should always be a priority.
The law’s the law – by entering/staying/passing through a country, you agree to abide by their law. Should have checked what the drug smuggling laws are BEFORE he entered :X
Yep, the law’s the law, however unfair and absurd it is. There’s no injustice when it comes to law.
I feel very strongly about this issue. I think it’s best I leave it at this.
I don’t feel terribly strongly either way, to be honest, I swing both ways. On the one hand i feel it’s way too harsh and a bit insane, but on the other hand I know that by entering a country, I have to abide by their laws/punishment – and there’s no 2 ways about it.
You’d trust the govt and its laws to do things ‘right’, huh..
Spot on. The law is there to keep society in order and to get rid of criminals.
If I’m unhappy or disagree with any law of any country – I simply wouldn’t go/live there. Easy decision to make.
Just too bad for people who cannot afford to migrate. But then, cannot afford = abide law, no wonder there’s family suicides here. But this is another issue altogether.
Aww yes, I know what you mean. I guess my decision to move to Australia speaks volumes without me having to say anything – i’m VERY unhappy with the way the SG govt censors the newspapers and this case in particular. I prefer a ‘free-er’ country.
It’s stated in the immigration forms and as well as announced by the airlines before landing about the drug penalty. As far as I can remember. So there was still time for him to dump it into the airplane toilet.
That sorta reminds me of the kid that got caned in Singapore for ..something about bubblegum? Or maybe he did grafitti. And the American gov’t kicked up a stink. I thought the kid deserved it, because it says on your passport that while you are in another country you are subject to their laws. Duh.
Death IS a harsh punishment, and while I don’t side with a smuggler, especially for drug trafficking. We don’t even have capital punishment for trafficking (then again, it varies state to state, it’s not across the board here in the US).
Ohhh his name was Michael.. he grafiiti’d in a public area and got caned. I thought it was super harsh too, but the law’s the law I guess!
I think (but don’t quote me on this) the SG gov sees a smuggler as potentially being a mass murderer, since the thousands of shots of heroin can kill hundreds of people. So someone that murders a few hundred people would get the dealth penalty, I suppose?
hmm, very good articles indeed. mind if I paste the links on my blog?
I think the death sentence is too harsh a punishment, but it’s the law here, so I doubt SG will change it. it’ll affect the credibility of the system then.
he’s just passing through SG.. yups. but I think it’ll be irresponsible of SG if they were to let him pass through just cos he wasn’t intending to smuggle the drugs into SG. but still, the death sentence is a really sad thing la.
I would prefer life-long imprisonment over death for criminals anytime.
No, go ahead and copy/paste 🙂
I’m pretty much 100% certain SG won’t change their laws just because another country tells them to. Frankly, I feel if anyone thinks it’s a “bad” law, then just don’t GO to that country – it’s really simple! 😉
I can understand that whole rationale of killing people with his drugs, but I just don’t agree with it. It’s not like he is force feeding heroin to people. We all have the choice to say no to drugs, but there is no choice involved when some psycho decides to shoot you. I guess I just don’t sympathize with drug users…both parties are guilty in my eyes and I don’t think the Singapore punishment fits the crime.
If drug smuggling warrants the death penalty, then so many other crimes should warrant the death penalty too, such as rape, abuse, kidnapping, or torturing/killing of animals- basically anything with malicious and ill intent involved. I guess what it comes down to is how severe one views a crime and every country/person will have different views on what’s a fair punishment and what isn’t. Too bad the world isn’t so black and white…it’d make things so much easier! 😛
I don’t think the punishment fits the crime either. But I doubt australia asking Singapore to change it’s laws will work.. since the SG govt doesn’t exactly report into, or have to listen to, the AU govt (and vice versa)
I think you make a great point – hard to draw the line at what’s fair – life imprisonment? if not, 50 years? what about 45? 40? everyone draws the line differently :X
But Australia isn’t asking them to change their laws at all, they’re just asking for clemency which SG does have the ability to do.
I believe SG law is the death penalty for convicted drug smugglers – asking for something less is in effect asking to modify their laws?
A different sentence is pretty arbitrary – one person would consider 50yrs reasonable, another would consider 30yrs reasonable – so who to listen to if everyone thinks they have a right to modify another country’s law? I say – never visit SG if the law’s too crap and harsh 😉
damn it’s harsh over there. too bad the us govt supports drugs and let them enter the country, and nope no death penalty, just a few months in jail. The US system does kinda suck. Takes forever for the death penalty to occur…
Hee, you’re naughty 😛 I think the point is that the death penalty is too harsh, no matter what!
But no matter what people say, I’m still FOR the death penalty for certain crimes- it’s a good deterrant 😉
if we had the death penalty here for drugs there would be NO drugs here, but we got all those damn no death penalty groups, this is the problem here, everyone and their sister, mother, uncle, and dog has an opinion and an express it however loud they want. argh…can’t we just kill all the stupid ppl?
I’m probably in the minority too.. I do like harsher punishments – it stops people from being naughty 😉
Reading that first article riled me up so much, my morning is spoilt.
The whole article seems kinda snobbish without any regards to the subject just because he is a minority/with an impressionable, drug addict of a twin brother. Too much assumption on his part. How can anyone come to term that a govt is going to hang him this Friday?? With a twin brother like Khoa, of course he’d be told of the drug syndicate, it’s totally selfish and unfair for the ‘columnist’ to have those assumptions.
I don’t know about others but I’m not asking the govt to change its law but to see the injustice done to the convicted; punishment overweighs the crime committed. Esp one that is made mandatory that gives the judge no hand in carrying out justice. If a person is caught passing through Singapore with 15.5gms of heroine he’d be hanged too. And the no. of hits given quoted by the govt is greatly exaggerated. The crime wasn’t even intended to be committed in Singapore. Plus he has helped all he can in tracking down the real perpetrator. We’re hanging a person for just passing through Singapore airport. Heck, he didn’t even go through the immigration. Even Malaysia knows the difference between entering and passing through a country (traffickers caught passing through given a relatively long sentence, but never hanged).
I cannot stand the irony of it: The injustice of the govt doing ‘justice’ to a ‘convict’. This case is much worse than Michelle Leslie’s which caused much furore just because of 2 tiny pills.
I think the rationale is – he can kill hundreds of people by smugging drugs in. If a person walked into a shop and shot a hundred people, he’d be hung too.
Im actually REALLY glad that SG caught him – I hate drugs and I hate drug smuggles. I think the punishment’s harsh though.. maybe it’s to make an example so other people are too bloody scared to try and smuggle drugs in in future 😉
That’s the thing; he’s not smuggling it into Singapore, he’s just passing through and Singapore put him on trial and decide to hang him. He’s not going to kill any Singaporean. It’s absurd!
At the most, he should just be sentence to a relatively long sentence because he’s passing through at the SG airport.
How can you kill someone when the intention is not there? If he’s tried in Australia, he might still have his life.
I don’t think it’s responsible though, for a country to say “you’re just passing through, i’ll let some other country deal with your crime” 😛
I agree with your last sentence. At the end of the day, I suppose the law is the law – SG is famous for it’s drug trafficking punishment – I wouldn’t even consider doing it, and if I get caught, I wouldn’t get angry since SG is really transparent about drugs=death penalty
Well, I think snubbing out a life is overly-responsible for SG to do just for the trafficker to pass through the country.
I don’t know if similar cases like this have happened before but this is the 1st time I’m reading about a person hanged for passing through. I don’t think Nguyen is aware he could lose his life for being in transit in SG.
I guess ignorance cost him his life.
Yeah, I’m sure he regrets it now but it’s too late 🙁
I like this quote from an Australian:
“Personally I think if you go into a country you have to abide by their laws, and you have to live with the consequences.”
“It does seem harsh but they [the Singaporeans] can’t change their minds at this late stage because it will undermine their system,” she said.
There. It’s all about the sovereignty issue. Just like love, it blinds one and undermines the humanity issue when it should always be a priority.
The law’s the law – by entering/staying/passing through a country, you agree to abide by their law. Should have checked what the drug smuggling laws are BEFORE he entered :X
Yep, the law’s the law, however unfair and absurd it is. There’s no injustice when it comes to law.
I feel very strongly about this issue. I think it’s best I leave it at this.
I don’t feel terribly strongly either way, to be honest, I swing both ways. On the one hand i feel it’s way too harsh and a bit insane, but on the other hand I know that by entering a country, I have to abide by their laws/punishment – and there’s no 2 ways about it.
You’d trust the govt and its laws to do things ‘right’, huh..
Spot on. The law is there to keep society in order and to get rid of criminals.
If I’m unhappy or disagree with any law of any country – I simply wouldn’t go/live there. Easy decision to make.
Just too bad for people who cannot afford to migrate. But then, cannot afford = abide law, no wonder there’s family suicides here. But this is another issue altogether.
Aww yes, I know what you mean. I guess my decision to move to Australia speaks volumes without me having to say anything – i’m VERY unhappy with the way the SG govt censors the newspapers and this case in particular. I prefer a ‘free-er’ country.
It’s stated in the immigration forms and as well as announced by the airlines before landing about the drug penalty. As far as I can remember. So there was still time for him to dump it into the airplane toilet.
That sorta reminds me of the kid that got caned in Singapore for ..something about bubblegum? Or maybe he did grafitti. And the American gov’t kicked up a stink. I thought the kid deserved it, because it says on your passport that while you are in another country you are subject to their laws. Duh.
Death IS a harsh punishment, and while I don’t side with a smuggler, especially for drug trafficking. We don’t even have capital punishment for trafficking (then again, it varies state to state, it’s not across the board here in the US).
Ohhh his name was Michael.. he grafiiti’d in a public area and got caned. I thought it was super harsh too, but the law’s the law I guess!
I think (but don’t quote me on this) the SG gov sees a smuggler as potentially being a mass murderer, since the thousands of shots of heroin can kill hundreds of people. So someone that murders a few hundred people would get the dealth penalty, I suppose?
I’ve seen crap loads of news stories on this, but don’t get involved with the politics, because frankly, if he can do the crime, he can do the time. It’ll sure teach other druggo idiots a lesson.
It’s just too hard to ignore, it’s just IN YOUR FACE all the time.. SG refuses to put it in the media, and AU shoves it in everyone’s faces – polar opposites!
I do think they want to make an example out of him, at the end of the day. Pretty mean, but I guess it works.. I REALLY REALLY don’t want to bring drugs into the country now 😉
I’ve seen crap loads of news stories on this, but don’t get involved with the politics, because frankly, if he can do the crime, he can do the time. It’ll sure teach other druggo idiots a lesson.
It’s just too hard to ignore, it’s just IN YOUR FACE all the time.. SG refuses to put it in the media, and AU shoves it in everyone’s faces – polar opposites!
I do think they want to make an example out of him, at the end of the day. Pretty mean, but I guess it works.. I REALLY REALLY don’t want to bring drugs into the country now 😉
Ugh, depressing news. Time to spread more love into this world!! 😛
I know.. impossible to avoide too, it’s on every single day on every single news channel :X
sigh. i think i’ll feel horrible on friday too.
After all, don’t u agree that each time you switch on the tv, radio, or read the news..it’s about this?
Well, I don’t agree with capital punishment for drugs too. I really do hope Singapore actually changes its law next time, or gradually.
Yes – it’s all over Au news.. but SG news has conveniently not been reporting it.. ugh.
I think if they do away with death penalty for drugs, it’ll be at least be life imprisonment – i dunno what’s worse considering how awful jail life can be :X
yup. I think sg news is censoring that a little too much.
Yes, I just heard it again on the late night news as I type this ….
Life imprisonment is good for the mom I guess. But, for the sg govt, it cost money I guess.
Get the Australian Govt to pay for his life imprisonment lah!
Hehe THAT would make the people mooooooooore upset, I bet! 😛
Off topic but I saw your parents today! At Esplanade, for a Lunchbox free concert. 🙂
Oooh haha, you recognise them? You should’ve said hi! It’s a small world hey 😛
You bet I do. 😛 Was like “Why are these two people so familiar looking…ohhhh!” The show was starting soon and I was on duty, so I didn’t say hi. If it happens again, I will! 🙂
Ugh, depressing news. Time to spread more love into this world!! 😛
I know.. impossible to avoide too, it’s on every single day on every single news channel :X
sigh. i think i’ll feel horrible on friday too.
After all, don’t u agree that each time you switch on the tv, radio, or read the news..it’s about this?
Well, I don’t agree with capital punishment for drugs too. I really do hope Singapore actually changes its law next time, or gradually.
Yes – it’s all over Au news.. but SG news has conveniently not been reporting it.. ugh.
I think if they do away with death penalty for drugs, it’ll be at least be life imprisonment – i dunno what’s worse considering how awful jail life can be :X
yup. I think sg news is censoring that a little too much.
Yes, I just heard it again on the late night news as I type this ….
Life imprisonment is good for the mom I guess. But, for the sg govt, it cost money I guess.
Get the Australian Govt to pay for his life imprisonment lah!
Hehe THAT would make the people mooooooooore upset, I bet! 😛
hmm, very good articles indeed. mind if I paste the links on my blog?
I think the death sentence is too harsh a punishment, but it’s the law here, so I doubt SG will change it. it’ll affect the credibility of the system then.
he’s just passing through SG.. yups. but I think it’ll be irresponsible of SG if they were to let him pass through just cos he wasn’t intending to smuggle the drugs into SG. but still, the death sentence is a really sad thing la.
I would prefer life-long imprisonment over death for criminals anytime.
No, go ahead and copy/paste 🙂
I’m pretty much 100% certain SG won’t change their laws just because another country tells them to. Frankly, I feel if anyone thinks it’s a “bad” law, then just don’t GO to that country – it’s really simple! 😉
I can understand that whole rationale of killing people with his drugs, but I just don’t agree with it. It’s not like he is force feeding heroin to people. We all have the choice to say no to drugs, but there is no choice involved when some psycho decides to shoot you. I guess I just don’t sympathize with drug users…both parties are guilty in my eyes and I don’t think the Singapore punishment fits the crime.
If drug smuggling warrants the death penalty, then so many other crimes should warrant the death penalty too, such as rape, abuse, kidnapping, or torturing/killing of animals- basically anything with malicious and ill intent involved. I guess what it comes down to is how severe one views a crime and every country/person will have different views on what’s a fair punishment and what isn’t. Too bad the world isn’t so black and white…it’d make things so much easier! 😛
I don’t think the punishment fits the crime either. But I doubt australia asking Singapore to change it’s laws will work.. since the SG govt doesn’t exactly report into, or have to listen to, the AU govt (and vice versa)
I think you make a great point – hard to draw the line at what’s fair – life imprisonment? if not, 50 years? what about 45? 40? everyone draws the line differently :X
But Australia isn’t asking them to change their laws at all, they’re just asking for clemency which SG does have the ability to do.
I believe SG law is the death penalty for convicted drug smugglers – asking for something less is in effect asking to modify their laws?
A different sentence is pretty arbitrary – one person would consider 50yrs reasonable, another would consider 30yrs reasonable – so who to listen to if everyone thinks they have a right to modify another country’s law? I say – never visit SG if the law’s too crap and harsh 😉
Off topic but I saw your parents today! At Esplanade, for a Lunchbox free concert. 🙂
Oooh haha, you recognise them? You should’ve said hi! It’s a small world hey 😛
You bet I do. 😛 Was like “Why are these two people so familiar looking…ohhhh!” The show was starting soon and I was on duty, so I didn’t say hi. If it happens again, I will! 🙂
damn it’s harsh over there. too bad the us govt supports drugs and let them enter the country, and nope no death penalty, just a few months in jail. The US system does kinda suck. Takes forever for the death penalty to occur…
Hee, you’re naughty 😛 I think the point is that the death penalty is too harsh, no matter what!
But no matter what people say, I’m still FOR the death penalty for certain crimes- it’s a good deterrant 😉
if we had the death penalty here for drugs there would be NO drugs here, but we got all those damn no death penalty groups, this is the problem here, everyone and their sister, mother, uncle, and dog has an opinion and an express it however loud they want. argh…can’t we just kill all the stupid ppl?
I’m probably in the minority too.. I do like harsher punishments – it stops people from being naughty 😉
Reading that first article riled me up so much, my morning is spoilt.
The whole article seems kinda snobbish without any regards to the subject just because he is a minority/with an impressionable, drug addict of a twin brother. Too much assumption on his part. How can anyone come to term that a govt is going to hang him this Friday?? With a twin brother like Khoa, of course he’d be told of the drug syndicate, it’s totally selfish and unfair for the ‘columnist’ to have those assumptions.
I don’t know about others but I’m not asking the govt to change its law but to see the injustice done to the convicted; punishment overweighs the crime committed. Esp one that is made mandatory that gives the judge no hand in carrying out justice. If a person is caught passing through Singapore with 15.5gms of heroine he’d be hanged too. And the no. of hits given quoted by the govt is greatly exaggerated. The crime wasn’t even intended to be committed in Singapore. Plus he has helped all he can in tracking down the real perpetrator. We’re hanging a person for just passing through Singapore airport. Heck, he didn’t even go through the immigration. Even Malaysia knows the difference between entering and passing through a country (traffickers caught passing through given a relatively long sentence, but never hanged).
I cannot stand the irony of it: The injustice of the govt doing ‘justice’ to a ‘convict’. This case is much worse than Michelle Leslie’s which caused much furore just because of 2 tiny pills.
I think the rationale is – he can kill hundreds of people by smugging drugs in. If a person walked into a shop and shot a hundred people, he’d be hung too.
Im actually REALLY glad that SG caught him – I hate drugs and I hate drug smuggles. I think the punishment’s harsh though.. maybe it’s to make an example so other people are too bloody scared to try and smuggle drugs in in future 😉
That’s the thing; he’s not smuggling it into Singapore, he’s just passing through and Singapore put him on trial and decide to hang him. He’s not going to kill any Singaporean. It’s absurd!
At the most, he should just be sentence to a relatively long sentence because he’s passing through at the SG airport.
How can you kill someone when the intention is not there? If he’s tried in Australia, he might still have his life.
I don’t think it’s responsible though, for a country to say “you’re just passing through, i’ll let some other country deal with your crime” 😛
I agree with your last sentence. At the end of the day, I suppose the law is the law – SG is famous for it’s drug trafficking punishment – I wouldn’t even consider doing it, and if I get caught, I wouldn’t get angry since SG is really transparent about drugs=death penalty
Well, I think snubbing out a life is overly-responsible for SG to do just for the trafficker to pass through the country.
I don’t know if similar cases like this have happened before but this is the 1st time I’m reading about a person hanged for passing through. I don’t think Nguyen is aware he could lose his life for being in transit in SG.
I guess ignorance cost him his life.
Yeah, I’m sure he regrets it now but it’s too late 🙁
I like this quote from an Australian:
“Personally I think if you go into a country you have to abide by their laws, and you have to live with the consequences.”
“It does seem harsh but they [the Singaporeans] can’t change their minds at this late stage because it will undermine their system,” she said.
There. It’s all about the sovereignty issue. Just like love, it blinds one and undermines the humanity issue when it should always be a priority.
The law’s the law – by entering/staying/passing through a country, you agree to abide by their law. Should have checked what the drug smuggling laws are BEFORE he entered :X
Yep, the law’s the law, however unfair and absurd it is. There’s no injustice when it comes to law.
I feel very strongly about this issue. I think it’s best I leave it at this.
I don’t feel terribly strongly either way, to be honest, I swing both ways. On the one hand i feel it’s way too harsh and a bit insane, but on the other hand I know that by entering a country, I have to abide by their laws/punishment – and there’s no 2 ways about it.
You’d trust the govt and its laws to do things ‘right’, huh..
Spot on. The law is there to keep society in order and to get rid of criminals.
If I’m unhappy or disagree with any law of any country – I simply wouldn’t go/live there. Easy decision to make.
Just too bad for people who cannot afford to migrate. But then, cannot afford = abide law, no wonder there’s family suicides here. But this is another issue altogether.
Aww yes, I know what you mean. I guess my decision to move to Australia speaks volumes without me having to say anything – i’m VERY unhappy with the way the SG govt censors the newspapers and this case in particular. I prefer a ‘free-er’ country.
It’s stated in the immigration forms and as well as announced by the airlines before landing about the drug penalty. As far as I can remember. So there was still time for him to dump it into the airplane toilet.
That sorta reminds me of the kid that got caned in Singapore for ..something about bubblegum? Or maybe he did grafitti. And the American gov’t kicked up a stink. I thought the kid deserved it, because it says on your passport that while you are in another country you are subject to their laws. Duh.
Death IS a harsh punishment, and while I don’t side with a smuggler, especially for drug trafficking. We don’t even have capital punishment for trafficking (then again, it varies state to state, it’s not across the board here in the US).
Ohhh his name was Michael.. he grafiiti’d in a public area and got caned. I thought it was super harsh too, but the law’s the law I guess!
I think (but don’t quote me on this) the SG gov sees a smuggler as potentially being a mass murderer, since the thousands of shots of heroin can kill hundreds of people. So someone that murders a few hundred people would get the dealth penalty, I suppose?
hmm, very good articles indeed. mind if I paste the links on my blog?
I think the death sentence is too harsh a punishment, but it’s the law here, so I doubt SG will change it. it’ll affect the credibility of the system then.
he’s just passing through SG.. yups. but I think it’ll be irresponsible of SG if they were to let him pass through just cos he wasn’t intending to smuggle the drugs into SG. but still, the death sentence is a really sad thing la.
I would prefer life-long imprisonment over death for criminals anytime.
No, go ahead and copy/paste 🙂
I’m pretty much 100% certain SG won’t change their laws just because another country tells them to. Frankly, I feel if anyone thinks it’s a “bad” law, then just don’t GO to that country – it’s really simple! 😉
I can understand that whole rationale of killing people with his drugs, but I just don’t agree with it. It’s not like he is force feeding heroin to people. We all have the choice to say no to drugs, but there is no choice involved when some psycho decides to shoot you. I guess I just don’t sympathize with drug users…both parties are guilty in my eyes and I don’t think the Singapore punishment fits the crime.
If drug smuggling warrants the death penalty, then so many other crimes should warrant the death penalty too, such as rape, abuse, kidnapping, or torturing/killing of animals- basically anything with malicious and ill intent involved. I guess what it comes down to is how severe one views a crime and every country/person will have different views on what’s a fair punishment and what isn’t. Too bad the world isn’t so black and white…it’d make things so much easier! 😛
I don’t think the punishment fits the crime either. But I doubt australia asking Singapore to change it’s laws will work.. since the SG govt doesn’t exactly report into, or have to listen to, the AU govt (and vice versa)
I think you make a great point – hard to draw the line at what’s fair – life imprisonment? if not, 50 years? what about 45? 40? everyone draws the line differently :X
But Australia isn’t asking them to change their laws at all, they’re just asking for clemency which SG does have the ability to do.
I believe SG law is the death penalty for convicted drug smugglers – asking for something less is in effect asking to modify their laws?
A different sentence is pretty arbitrary – one person would consider 50yrs reasonable, another would consider 30yrs reasonable – so who to listen to if everyone thinks they have a right to modify another country’s law? I say – never visit SG if the law’s too crap and harsh 😉
damn it’s harsh over there. too bad the us govt supports drugs and let them enter the country, and nope no death penalty, just a few months in jail. The US system does kinda suck. Takes forever for the death penalty to occur…
Hee, you’re naughty 😛 I think the point is that the death penalty is too harsh, no matter what!
But no matter what people say, I’m still FOR the death penalty for certain crimes- it’s a good deterrant 😉
if we had the death penalty here for drugs there would be NO drugs here, but we got all those damn no death penalty groups, this is the problem here, everyone and their sister, mother, uncle, and dog has an opinion and an express it however loud they want. argh…can’t we just kill all the stupid ppl?
I’m probably in the minority too.. I do like harsher punishments – it stops people from being naughty 😉
Reading that first article riled me up so much, my morning is spoilt.
The whole article seems kinda snobbish without any regards to the subject just because he is a minority/with an impressionable, drug addict of a twin brother. Too much assumption on his part. How can anyone come to term that a govt is going to hang him this Friday?? With a twin brother like Khoa, of course he’d be told of the drug syndicate, it’s totally selfish and unfair for the ‘columnist’ to have those assumptions.
I don’t know about others but I’m not asking the govt to change its law but to see the injustice done to the convicted; punishment overweighs the crime committed. Esp one that is made mandatory that gives the judge no hand in carrying out justice. If a person is caught passing through Singapore with 15.5gms of heroine he’d be hanged too. And the no. of hits given quoted by the govt is greatly exaggerated. The crime wasn’t even intended to be committed in Singapore. Plus he has helped all he can in tracking down the real perpetrator. We’re hanging a person for just passing through Singapore airport. Heck, he didn’t even go through the immigration. Even Malaysia knows the difference between entering and passing through a country (traffickers caught passing through given a relatively long sentence, but never hanged).
I cannot stand the irony of it: The injustice of the govt doing ‘justice’ to a ‘convict’. This case is much worse than Michelle Leslie’s which caused much furore just because of 2 tiny pills.
I think the rationale is – he can kill hundreds of people by smugging drugs in. If a person walked into a shop and shot a hundred people, he’d be hung too.
Im actually REALLY glad that SG caught him – I hate drugs and I hate drug smuggles. I think the punishment’s harsh though.. maybe it’s to make an example so other people are too bloody scared to try and smuggle drugs in in future 😉
That’s the thing; he’s not smuggling it into Singapore, he’s just passing through and Singapore put him on trial and decide to hang him. He’s not going to kill any Singaporean. It’s absurd!
At the most, he should just be sentence to a relatively long sentence because he’s passing through at the SG airport.
How can you kill someone when the intention is not there? If he’s tried in Australia, he might still have his life.
I don’t think it’s responsible though, for a country to say “you’re just passing through, i’ll let some other country deal with your crime” 😛
I agree with your last sentence. At the end of the day, I suppose the law is the law – SG is famous for it’s drug trafficking punishment – I wouldn’t even consider doing it, and if I get caught, I wouldn’t get angry since SG is really transparent about drugs=death penalty
Well, I think snubbing out a life is overly-responsible for SG to do just for the trafficker to pass through the country.
I don’t know if similar cases like this have happened before but this is the 1st time I’m reading about a person hanged for passing through. I don’t think Nguyen is aware he could lose his life for being in transit in SG.
I guess ignorance cost him his life.
Yeah, I’m sure he regrets it now but it’s too late 🙁
I like this quote from an Australian:
“Personally I think if you go into a country you have to abide by their laws, and you have to live with the consequences.”
“It does seem harsh but they [the Singaporeans] can’t change their minds at this late stage because it will undermine their system,” she said.
There. It’s all about the sovereignty issue. Just like love, it blinds one and undermines the humanity issue when it should always be a priority.
The law’s the law – by entering/staying/passing through a country, you agree to abide by their law. Should have checked what the drug smuggling laws are BEFORE he entered :X
Yep, the law’s the law, however unfair and absurd it is. There’s no injustice when it comes to law.
I feel very strongly about this issue. I think it’s best I leave it at this.
I don’t feel terribly strongly either way, to be honest, I swing both ways. On the one hand i feel it’s way too harsh and a bit insane, but on the other hand I know that by entering a country, I have to abide by their laws/punishment – and there’s no 2 ways about it.
You’d trust the govt and its laws to do things ‘right’, huh..
Spot on. The law is there to keep society in order and to get rid of criminals.
If I’m unhappy or disagree with any law of any country – I simply wouldn’t go/live there. Easy decision to make.
Just too bad for people who cannot afford to migrate. But then, cannot afford = abide law, no wonder there’s family suicides here. But this is another issue altogether.
Aww yes, I know what you mean. I guess my decision to move to Australia speaks volumes without me having to say anything – i’m VERY unhappy with the way the SG govt censors the newspapers and this case in particular. I prefer a ‘free-er’ country.
It’s stated in the immigration forms and as well as announced by the airlines before landing about the drug penalty. As far as I can remember. So there was still time for him to dump it into the airplane toilet.
That sorta reminds me of the kid that got caned in Singapore for ..something about bubblegum? Or maybe he did grafitti. And the American gov’t kicked up a stink. I thought the kid deserved it, because it says on your passport that while you are in another country you are subject to their laws. Duh.
Death IS a harsh punishment, and while I don’t side with a smuggler, especially for drug trafficking. We don’t even have capital punishment for trafficking (then again, it varies state to state, it’s not across the board here in the US).
Ohhh his name was Michael.. he grafiiti’d in a public area and got caned. I thought it was super harsh too, but the law’s the law I guess!
I think (but don’t quote me on this) the SG gov sees a smuggler as potentially being a mass murderer, since the thousands of shots of heroin can kill hundreds of people. So someone that murders a few hundred people would get the dealth penalty, I suppose?