The punishment for smuggling drugs into Singapore is death. While westerners and their warped values view it as barbaric, most Singaporeans are fine with it. After all, it’s not as if the law’s a secret. If you’re willing to smuggle drugs, then you’d have to be willing to die. That’s the case for Malaysian drug smuggler, Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam.
It would be case closed if not for his lawyer’s claim that Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam is mentally incompetent and has the mental faculties of somebody under 18.
In that light, they argued, Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam can’t be held accountable for his actions and thus shouldn’t be getting the death penalty.
Perhaps there is a case to be made for trying somebody like that but if that was the case, why wasn’t this a bigger deal when the trial was being conducted in the past.
That’s why most Singaporean Netizens aren’t buying that excuse.
Hell, they argue, Nagaenthran was 21 when he did the crime. That’s old enough to be accountable.
I’m not sure whether they’re outright ignoring the claims about Nagaenthran’s mental faculties or just oblivious to the claims though.
In their view, he was 21 when he committed the crime and since there’s been no proof to show of diminished mental faculties, he deserves to be charged as an adult.
Singaporeans are largely united in wanting Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam to hang. He was caught, and convicted so why is he still an issue?
Most already view the case as already taking too long, with the lawyers playing the clock and hoping to prolong Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam’s life.
Considering that the accused isn’t even Singaporean, they view that enough resources have been wasted on this and look forward to the sentence to be carried out.
To be honest, I’m a bit taken aback at the casual disregard for human life. I mean, I don’t blame them because the law is ultra clear on this but cheering for a man to die? Damn, that’s cold.
Still, Netizens are adamant that he brought it up upon himself.
After all, it’s not like he didn’t know Singaporean law when he tried to smuggle in the drugs. You do the crime be prepared to do the time (or hang time in this case).
A message needs to be sent and many view this as a good example to show drug mules, traffickers and kingpins that Singapore doesn’t mess around when it comes to drugs.
Now that Apex Court has ruled decisively on Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, Netizens have also been applauding Chief Justice Menon for squashing the appeals without prolonging proceedings again.
Chief Justice Menon is viewed as hero among certain segments.
That’s a weird form of hero worship, but hell at least it’s better than idolizing K-Pop stars.
With the death penalty incoming, there are actually some contend that Singaporean law isn’t strict enough when it comes to drugs.
They contend that the same laws should extend to cover abusers as well because they’re a burden to society and their families as well.
From their point of view, drug abusers are just as guilty as smugglers but yet get light sentences. That’s not justice served. They should be judged on the same levels a smugglers.
Abusers put their families on a rollercoaster ride and put a drain on the nation’s resources. Wouldn’t that entitle them to the same punishment of a drug smuggler?
The moral and ethical implications of lumping two different types of offenses goes over my head in this case and I honestly have no opinion on this.
Maybe they’re right. Maybe they’re wrong. I don’t know.
Some Singaporeans seem to think they do though.
They think they know better than our judges, the laws and our ministers because to them, the death penalty is wrong.
No two ways about it.
One even has the damn cheek to compare Singapore to countries. Seriously. What next with these people and their admiration of westerners? Advocating tolerance and understanding for LGBTQ is one thing (which I agree with completely), going lenient on criminals is another.
Still, at least these people are basing their opposition on human laws and what other nations have done. At the end of the day, it comes down to logical and ethical reasons.
There are others, however, who prefer zealotry rather than cold logic.
Their holier than thou attitude spans multiple different posts.
In every single of them, they berate others for not turning the other cheek and denigrates those who don’t share their point of view.
Why?
Why the need to bring religion into this when it just concerns the law and the death sentence of a man?
It doesn’t make sense and just opens a whole new (unrelated) can of worms.
No matter what Netizens think though, at the end of the day, the sentence is death for the accused. There’s no more room to appeal, no way to buy more time. There’s still no date for the execution, but seeing as how the proceedings have dragged on for years I doubt that it’ll take much longer.