A total of 8,000 signatures have been collected in an appeal to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to urge the republic's President SR Nathan to spare the life of Malaysian Cheong Chun Yin, 28, who has been sentenced to hang for trafficking in heroin.

The signatures were collected by Cheong's family members after his sentencing by the Singapore High Court last year and will be submitted to Lee tomorrow.

Cheong's sister, Joanne, said 7,200 signatures were collected from night markets and coffee shops in Johor with the help of friends and the total is expected to exceed 8,000 when the collection of signatures ends tonight.

NONE Joanne told Malaysiakini that family members would hand over the petition to Lee tomorrow, along with her brother's lawyer, M. Ravi.

Asked whether the family was confident they would be able to convince the Singapore premier, she said, "I don't want to have any negative thoughts... I always have faith."

In appeals against the death sentence, the Singapore president acts on the advice of the prime minister.

Cheong ( left ) was found guilty of trafficking in 2.7kg of heroin in 2008.

When caught, he told investigators from the Central Narcotics Board that he thought he was carrying gold bars into the country.

He said one "Lau De" arranged his trip to Burma to pick up a bag containing the "gold", which he did.

He said he felt "hard objects" hidden in the lining of the bag and assumed that the objects indeed were the gold bars.

High Court Judge Choo Han Teck, who sentenced Cheong to death on Feb 4 last year, considered it "immaterial that the CNB did not make adequate efforts to trace Lau De or check on his cell-phones".

Choo told Cheong, "I do not believe your story." His appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed without any grounds of judgment released.

Another Malaysian, Sabahan Yong Vui Kong, was also sentenced to death in Singapore for drug trafficking in November 2009. He was 19 years old then.

On April 4, Yong lost his final appeal against the death sentence, which is mandatory for drug trafficking. He will be executed in three months unless he is granted clemency by Singapore's president.

Malaysiakini is, for the next 11 weeks as Yong faces death, publishing his final letters to Yetian, a member of the Save Vui Kong Campaign.