Salutation

O generation of the thoroughly smug
and thoroughly uncomfortable,
I have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,
I have seen them with untidy families,
I have seen their smiles full of teeth
and heard ungainly laughter.
And I am happier than you are,
And they were happier than I am;
And the fish swim in the lake
and do not even own clothing.

Ezra Pound

i've decided i'll do poetry posts these days because they express truly how i feel. and they're not even my own words. because if i were to blog, i'd be blogging about The O.C. and how exciting it is right now and how i can't stand my brothers' tastes in music:

'oh, i'm melissa, i'm so intolerant of other people's tastes in music!' - brother greg on my groans whenever he listens to Ashlee Simpson or some other generic pop.

i'm not intolerant, i just don't like it when it's blasting from the speakers right next to me. i'm sure many other people have put up with my weird taste in music (sometimes my friends listen to my iPod and go, 'God, mel, what is THIS?'), like Sleater-Kinney, which trust me i have grown out of.

see i've gone and done it. anyway. the whole stophanging issue. i've had pretty interesting conversations the past few days with people who are actually FOR the death penalty. now before we automatically stereotype these people as coldhearts, i have to say they are some of the nicest people i've across. and the harsh truth is, many people share their opinions, that's why the death penalty exists in the first place.

i'm inclined to believe this is a battle we can't win. partly because the government is bent on keeping its iron fist grip on power and partly because Chee Soon Juan has gotten involved which makes the whole thing a lot messier (politically), if you ask me. i believe this issue isn't just about crime, it's about the government's need to show its firmness and its ultimate ruling in our lives - PAP will be damned before they lose to an opposition party leader. but the fact is, they shouldn't see it as that. they should start recognising that a real life is involved here, not just an opportunity to show 'who's your daddy'. now THAT is justice.

the death penalty has already shown itself to be ineffective - why are we continuing? hoping that we'll be able to wait it out and finally start seeing results? at what cost - a few hundred more lives?

you know why i don't believe in the death penalty? the reasons given for it don't seem very valid at all. 'the death penalty is a deterrence', seems to be the most popular one. firstly, it has already shown itself to be ineffective as a deterrent - 'According to Amnesty International, Singapore executes more people per capita than any other country in the world. Anyone caught with 15 grams or more of heroin faces a mandatory death sentence. Alas, the high rate of executions for drug-traffickers has not reduced drug-related crimes in Singapore'. secondly, i don't think the death penalty leaves a lasting impression on any criminal. yes, initially there's the shock value that one dies for the crime, but that's not going to stop them in the long run. all criminals go into the trade with the assumption that they won't get caught (it's human nature, we always think, 'that's not going to happen to me'). if all we do is provide condemnation, how are they going to learn from their mistakes? rather than death, we should be granting them work with counselors, religious activists etc in order for them to rehabilitate themselves and truly repent. even if they repent before death, which usually is the case, is it out of fear of death or is it out of a true understanding that what they did was wrong? do we really care for these people as individuals or are we just concerned with cleaning up crime quickly? we have to stop seeing these people as things to 'clean out' and start seeing them as individual human lives.

and then people say things like 'they deserve it'. with regards to Nguyen Tuong Van's case, i don't think he does. the circumstances do have to be taken into consideration. this was his first time drugtrafficking and he did it out of desperation to save his brother. he wasn't even motivated by greed or wealth. yes, it doesn't erase the fact that what he did was wrong, but people make mistakes. is his mistake one he should die for? no, i don't think so. no one really, really deserves to die, much less from such a gruesome death as hanging. the times, they are a-changing. why are we still subscribing to such grisly victorian-esque methods of law enforcement? don't we pride ourselves as a civilized society?

in singapore, the majority of us are fortunate to live comfortable lives. we've never found ourselves in a situation that Nguyen Tuong Van was in. imagine if we did, what would we do? would we sincerely be able to promise we wouldn't go out of our way to make sure our sibling wasn't killed by the triads? that fact is, we cannot even come close to imagining the fear and desperation he must have felt. we really don't have the right to judge him and say 'he deserves it'.

just my two cents worth. my take on the government decision with regards to this issue could be wrong. i am but a mere 18 year old who is not all that well-read and fluent in the ways of politics, i'm just trying to make sense of things for myself. if anyone wants to talk it out with me, i'd be more than happy to discuss stuff.

oh, this is just awful. please click.

clemency, folks, clemency.

+ posted by M @ 9:29 PM