Skip navigation.
Home
Web of Influence
Blogging blogs and the bloggers who blog them
 A student project of Bryn Mawr College
Hall of Fame | Blogroll | Help | About
Home » blogs » Ritzy Charly's blog

Drug Smuggler sentenced to DEATH.

Submitted by Ritzy Charly on Thu, 2005-12-01 12:51. current events

After seeing this article:
here it is
It occurred to me, never smuggle drugs anywhere near Singapore. In this article it reports how an Australian drug smugger was caught smuggling less then 1 pound of heroin into Singapore. In Singapore there is a 0 tolerance policy for drugs. The Australian was sentenced to be hang. I am very conflicted by this: on one hands drug smuggling is obviously a horrible crime-but is this worthy of the death penalty? Also can other countries kill people from another county? I can not even pretend that I know the answer.

» Ritzy Charly's blog | login to post comments | 773 reads

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Good question

Submitted by Paris and France on Thu, 2005-12-01 17:11.

This is an interesting topic. I do not believe that another country has the power to perform this act, is this a credible source? Keep us posted if you hear anything new on this.

» login to post comments

It is a credible source.

Submitted by Girl Meets World on Thu, 2005-12-01 20:06.

It is a credible source. This was just posted on the CNN website. It says that they did hang the him. According to CNN, "Singapore hanged young Australian drug smuggler Tuong Van Nguyen at 6 a.m. Friday (2200 GMT Thursday), despite widespread condemnation in Australia." He was also the first Australian executed overseas for 12 years.

» login to post comments

Singapore is known for their

Submitted by remember to breathe on Sat, 2005-12-03 01:55.

Singapore is known for their harsher laws and practices, as seen in the incident in 1994 where an American teenager was caught for vandalising cars and street signs and sentenced to four months in jail, a heavy fine, and whipping with a cane. Understandably, such punishment for a first time offender completely outraged many Americans. Even when Clinton tried to intervene, the Singapore government did not comply. Other laws that are common in Singapore are:
No chewing gum.
Death sentence for drug smuggling.
Paying to enter the Central Business District.
No public nudity, even at home
Caning and at least 20 years in jail for rapists (20+ years
Prohibition of smoking ads since the 1970s.
Jail for possessing party drugs.
Caning for rioting.
Fines for assorted petty offences, such as illegial parking or throwing litter.

All of these laws are believed to be imposed to uphold their country's dignity and class.

» login to post comments

no public nudity at home?

Submitted by Jake (not verified) on Sun, 2005-12-04 13:45.

no public nudity at home? This seems an impossibility to me. How can it be public when at home? More importantly, how to have sex? Use a heavy smoke machine? Sex in milk? I dunno, the fact that little Singapoorers are still being born everyday seems proof to me that even Singapore doesn't have such a law.

» login to post comments

Unjust and inhumane!

Submitted by MyT on Mon, 2005-12-05 12:26.

I was really impressed with Singapore the first time my family visited there. The city-state was attractive, efficient and very clean, so clean and organized it almost seemed like
a theme park. Its economic growth was explosive and the people were civilized, unusually well educated and law abiding. We saw a lot of people wearing T-shirts with the lettering “Singapore is a FINE city” - as in punishment! We laughed about it but we knew that’s why their system worked well and why the benefits were visible.

But I was sad and disappointed when I heard that the Singapore government hung Van last week. In the months before his execution, I received some emails and chain-letters asking for support in the online petition of this young person. Even though the reason he agreed to smuggle the drug was to help pay the debts of his twin brother, he did commit a terrible crime and it was a crime that could affect many other lives. But this punishment was disproportionate to the crime. They could have sentenced him to life in prison or something equivalent. They should have given him a chance to change into a good person. I felt that the Singapore government had used unjust and inhumane law to punish him. I am opposed to the death penalty in this case.

» login to post comments

Devil's Advocate

Submitted by Annushka on Mon, 2005-12-05 18:24.

I DON'T AGREE with what the gov't of Singapore did, but from their perspective it makes sense. So I'll play devil's advocate for a bit. By executing this man for the stupid crime he committed, it discourages others from doing the same. Why should the gov't pay for a prisoner? I mean, life in prison costs the gov't a lot of money for a non functional member of society (and this guy wasn't even a citizen of Singapore). MyT talks about her visit to Singapore and found the city to be quite pleasant. In my opinion, the reason why Singapore is such a nice place (from what MyT said) is because of the No Tolerance Policy. My hypothesis is that (in other words) Singapore would not be such a nice place without this policy. By killing this guy, the gov't is: preventing illegal actions by example, saving money and keeping order. In short, by executing this man the gov't of Singapore benefits.
*By the way... what about all the other people who (probably) get executed for similar offenses and ARE NOT FOREIGNERS??

» login to post comments

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.