Thursday, November 03, 2005

That's a phrase that ANY respectable law student should know.
A cliche it may be,
but logic it posesses.
(in yoda speak anyway)

I'm not particularly pleased with the public outcry in Australia for the captial punishment law for drug traffckers to me lifted for this Vietnamese guy.

I don't care about his sob story.. that he's transporting drugs for the sake of his brother's debts.

I don't care that he's all of 25 years old.. and in answer to an Australian politican who said "...return this silly boy to his mother", bugger off, he's 25, he knows full well what he was doing--- transporting heroin enough for 26,000 junkies.

I also don't care that it's a disaster for public relations.

BECAUSE the laws are there for a purpose.
When Micheal Fay's Yankee counterparts begged for Singapore to dispense with the caning, did we budge?
When the Philippines or Indonesia persuade Singapore to do away with the death sentence for domestic workers who have murdered people here, did we close an eye and sucuumbed to their pleas?

no and no.

and why didn't we? that's cos Singapore ain't no pushover.
If we make exceptions for just one case, we'd have a helluva lot to answer to for prior similar cases, and to understand the full extent of the matter, almost ANY foreigner in the future would regard Singapore as a safe haven for drug related crimes and the like (not unlike Amsterdam).

Because as long as they possess a photogenic mug, support their crimes with a sob story which is broadcasted to their home country and above all, say they're apologetic.... it seems like laws should suddenly disappear and bend over to their every whim and cry.

At risk of sounding like an apologist for a brutually strict legal regime,
I still have to say it.
The laws are there for a reason,
the reason being that the locals can walk around in the wee hours of the morning without having to worry that some druggie will pounce upon them with HIV-infected needles and demand for money to fuel their addictions.

the security and saftey that we enjoy should never be taken for granted.

Also, take a look at p 34 of TODAY to see the hypocrisy that is the Australian government.
They advocate the abolishment of the death sentence for this Viet guy,
and yet ask for the terrorists in Indonesia to be killed via said methods. I'm pretty sure some of the terrorists have some sob stories to tell too, let's hit the media with some pretty-face pictures,
and perhaps pretty soon we'll have people canvassing for their release.

8:34 PM