hipsta_jess said:
Its interesting, given hangings or various other forms of the death penalty would occur every day somewhere in the world, it is only now that Australians have been implicated that we're up in arms and saying how wrong it is, when noone gave a toss before.
...um...whether you like it or not nationality still exists.
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Outcry forces Singapore media into the open
By Connie Levett Herald Correspondent in Singapore
December 2, 2005
TODAY'S execution of Nguyen Tuong Van has forced the mandatory death penalty issue onto the agenda in Singapore, with the local media unable to ignore the political lobbying, threatened trade boycotts and heated public debate in Australia.
In a rare break with the government line, the broadsheet Straits Times ran an article discussing the mandatory death penalty, despite numerous government statements that it was essential to protect citizens from drugs and to deter drug syndicates from basing themselves in Singapore.
Political reporter Ken Kwek wrote: "Perhaps in the months ahead, when emotions have died down, the mandatory death penalty - meaning its case-by-case, crime-by-crime application - should be reassessed by lawyers, officials and citizens alike."
"If that happens, we should all focus on the specific - how the mandatory death penalty might be removed for certain crimes - rather than fall for the broad-brush rhetoric calling for its complete and unconditional abolition."
A long-time resident of Singapore, who asked not to be named, said: "It shows in Singapore that within the established media there are some misgivings about this medieval form of punishment. I wouldn't see it as a signal from the Government, more a signal from the intelligentsia."
He cautioned against reading too much into the story, saying the article showed the death penalty was a safe topic for discussion, rather than signalling a shift in government policy.