I beg the Singapore government to show mercy and spare the life of Yong Vui Kong.
In the same vein, I beg the Malaysian government to use its good offices to intercede on Vui Kong's behalf that he may receive a pardon after failing in his last court appeal.
I am only the beggar pleading for mercy to save a human life.
I weep for one as any parent would weep for their son, he is only a stranger to me, yet his life means a lot to me because I believe life is better than death, and there is more value in saving Vui Kong than taking away his breath.
After all, the one who employed him has had the charges dropped and will live.
Imagine how much good he could do if given the chance to warn others of the folly of getting involved in illegal drugs. After all his crime was nipped in the bud and has harmed no one.
If it were possible I would crawl on my knees and kow tow to the authorities and weep a billion tears to save this poor man from a tragic date with his mortality. No one should delight in the death of another human being, particularly as in Vui Kong's case.
Many of us who have read his story are touched by his regrettable circumstances that resulted in his plight.
Vui Kong repents of his wrongdoings and now knows wrong from right, he meant no one any harm, least of all a suffering mother whose heart must be torn, and the government has spared lives on death row before, so we learn from reports and letters such as the one from Amnesty International Malaysia.
So why not add Vui Kong's life to those saved than add another to those taken to the grave?
Life often is a cruel master and many are caught adrift in its wild currents, especially the poor and unfortunate, who are misled by others and they often don't know the seriousness of what they do that will harm their future, even prematurely end their lives, until it is too late.
It is the curse of juvenile folly, the cost of growing up in a cruel world.
And our moral duty is to instruct the young. But many like Vui Kong of tragic circumstances fall through the net and become prey to evil drug traffickers and criminals.
Some are caught in the spiral of crime and spin in a twister of disaster.
Vui Kong was one - a victim at an impressionable age of a despicable trade - this vicious drug business - but the sentence is too harsh for the crime and what benefit is any law that kills when it is far better for the law to save and instil a disdain for drugs in the public.
What price a life used as a deterrent when so many have died and it seems there are those who will never learn the lesson and like sheep to the slaughter, the young and gullible and often innocent are led astray by those who are masters of persuasion and trickery and risk the lives of others for filthy money.
We know of other young Malaysians who are the victims of evil soliciting and society can't be that uncaring to seal their fate and judge them harshly because we just can't bother but what if the misled was your brother or sister or father or mother?
Killing Vui Kong merely chalks another notch in the statistics of those who were tricked into becoming mules and carriers.
There must be consideration to protect our young and gullible from the real dangerous preying evil criminals.
In the war against heroin and drugs it is a Pyrrhic victory when nothing is achieved but the death of more gullible humans leaving behind shattered lives and more misery.
The trickery of the gullible in the illicit drugs chain is not the same as the masterminding of the big brains behind the illicit drugs situation.
It does nothing more than diminish our humanity when our hearts are closed to the cries of one like Vui Kong whose life is precious still to a caring and compassionate society.
It will not win the war against the lust for money and drugs is just another trade as the hardened criminals move to human trafficking now more evil and lucrative than illegal drug-trafficking.
Is there a mandatory death sentence against those who traffic in human lives?
I hope not for two wrongs don't make a right and laws must be soaked in mercy because justice is not only about punishment but the redemption of our humanity and we lose it when we lose our sense of pity, tempered punishment and reasonable judgement.
Mercy triumphs over judgement that is why there is the royal pardon and in Singapore the President's. The law may compel the judge to kill but the pardon can give the mercy still, so many for Vui Kong's life appeal.
Mandatory sentencing fails our humanity when judges can't show compassion in extenuating circumstances.
Words cannot move hearts of cold steel or heads of strong iron, and I am not optimistic anyone will listen except those who love unconditionally and may be sympathetic to a young man who was only 19 when he committed the crime.
When a society kills its juveniles it kills its children and there is no future for education and reformation. In Vui Kong's case the punishment does not fit the crime and is an unjust overkill and justice is not done.
I beg the authorities, the politicians, anyone, please spare the life of this young man.
It costs nothing to give Vui Kong another chance for who among us has not made a foolish mistake when we were young?
In ignorance people commit crimes and reformed criminals often give the best testimony to warn society and prevent the young and old from being led astray.
God forgives every sinner who asks him for forgiveness and should we not too?
There is no sin God cannot forgive and society is enriched when we are redemptive.
When a murderer was hung on a cross next to Jesus, he regretted his crime and asked to be remembered.
Jesus told him, "This day you will be with me in Paradise," and the murderer lost his life but saved his soul for the Afterlife in his faith in the saviour.
Since then laws have always had that nobleness of compassion when judges use their discretion and consider rehabilitating and redeeming criminals sent to prison. We are after all human.
Vui Kong's only crime was he broke a human law. And the law itself that carries the compulsory death sentence has broken the divine law of compassion when it shuts its ears to reason and a pardon is useless unless it is given.
The mandatory death sentence for drugs is not society's solution though it has the appearance of dissuasion and deterrence. It often nets the small fish and the gullible only rarely the untouchables.
From one human being to another I beg for mercy for Vui Kong.
In the bigger picture he was no kingpin drug dealer and his death will not matter one iota but sparing him will mean a lot to many, including strangers like me, who understand the plight of his poor family and their pitiful situation.
I have never met this young man but his story has touched many hearts and they believe he deserves a second chance and I do too. I beg for mercy for him as if he were my son and I cry for him that he might live.
Spare the life of this young man, I beg you all who can save him, please.
Vui Kong, trust in God - your sins he forgives. When all seems lost faith and hope in God will comfort you to sleep.
Alas for you I can only pray and weep and beg and plead.
