COMMENT | Families feel the pain as S'pore steps up executions
COMMENT | Today, I woke up with the disheartening news that this time, two lives are in danger.
Malaysian Pausi Jefridin and Singaporean Roslan Bakar are scheduled to die in two days time.
Singapore, why are you being bloodthirsty? Are you hanging two people during a pandemic?
Have you not realised that taking life should not be in the hands of humans? You are not God!
Each time I hear about an execution letter being sent to a family, my heart pumps faster than usual. My thought first goes to the inmates who have been scheduled. How would they feel when they know that they have only three days left to still breathe?
How would they feel about the fact that they will be murdered by the government? How can they accept that they are leaving behind their beautiful family for a small mistake that still has high chances of not being punished with death?
My journey in saving my brother's life, which is still a question mark, ended up being the most important experience of my life.
If Singapore wants to truly be a drug-free country, Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau should be going after drug lords...
COMMENT | Today, I woke up with the disheartening news that this time, two lives are in danger.
Malaysian Pausi Jefridin and Singaporean Roslan Bakar are scheduled to die in two days time.
Singapore, why are you being bloodthirsty? Are you hanging two people during a pandemic?
Have you not realised that taking life should not be in the hands of humans? You are not God!
Each time I hear about an execution letter being sent to a family, my heart pumps faster than usual. My thought first goes to the inmates who have been scheduled. How would they feel when they know that they have only three days left to still breathe?
How would they feel about the fact that they will be murdered by the government? How can they accept that they are leaving behind their beautiful family for a small mistake that still has high chances of not being punished with death?
My journey in saving my brother's life, which is still a question mark, ended up being the most important experience of my life.
If Singapore wants to truly be a drug-free country, Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau should be going after drug lords from the information given by mules. But, they are taking the information from mules, making it their own.
If inmates want the Certificate of Substantive Assistance, they will have to work hard for it. Even then, it is not guaranteed that inmates will be given the Certificate of Substantive Assistance, as that happens on the whim and discretion of the public prosecutor.
In the end, what is certain is that families will receive the letters of execution and should be ready to bid fare to their loved ones.
Only the minister is saying Singapore is a drug-free country. Nobody else is saying that. In Sentosa, you can easily access drugs if you have money. How does Sentosa highland get drugs? Through the government? Smuggling via ship/ports? Is there any other agency that smuggles drugs into the country?
Focused on scheduling executions
Earlier in 2020, an operation in Sentosa island revealed an assortment of drugs worth S$15,000 (RM46,000) that was smuggled in. While mules are the focus of the law always, drugs are entering the country in larger amounts elsewhere.
Pausi, 36 and Roslan, 51 are someone's son, brother, father, and husband.
What will you do if this happens to your family members? They have been locked up in jail for more than a decade.
Pausi's lawyer, Chung Ting Fai, had said that his client has an IQ level of 67, which meant that he was not able to "think through his actions and consequences thoroughly". In his judgment, justice Choo said that Pausi was "probably acting only as a courier". Why then is he sentenced to death?
Pausi's family (they are Sabahans) had no choice but to take the risk to fly from East Malaysia to West Malaysia and prepare to go to Singapore for a final few days to visit Pausi in Changi Prison, Singapore. Is this all really necessary right now?
With a dangerous pandemic raging and a massive surplus of cases in both Singapore and Malaysia, will Singapore be responsible if the family is affected by Covid-19?
I spoke to Roslan's family, and his sister explained that his execution date was scheduled suddenly. While he is still trying to work out if he needs new legal counsel and if yes, who to engage, Roslan is now getting the news that he would be hanged.
Roslan's sister frustratedly stresses out that the notice of execution was really short, and it is not scheduled with the best interest of inmates in mind.
Hanging Roslan and Pausi is not only a legislative failure but a failure to protect people on death row from Covid-19. Inmates on death row think they would be safe from the virus because they have no contact with the outside world.
However, during the court case of Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, a Covid-19 outbreak happened. Even my brother Pannir Selvam was infected by Covid-19 and is in the recovery process.
Why is Singapore focusing more on scheduling people for executions rather than worrying about the well-being of inmates in their penitentiary system?
Ultimately, I am very tired of still getting murder statements out from a first-class country.
Singapore regularly tops global indexes for standards of living. But in the global sentiment against the death penalty, Singapore still lags far behind. As of today, the majority of the world's states have abolished this cruel punishment in law for all crimes.
SANGKARI PRANTHAMAN is the sister of P Pannir Selvam who is on Singapore's death row.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
