Constipation ? Diarrhea ? Cholera
? Typhoid ?
Cold ? Flu ? Bronchitis ? Pneumonia ?
Is the government not responsible for Public Health administration
and management ?
What is the purpose of justice and punishment ?
Was it intended for those to seek vengeance or to educate and
correct wrongful behavior ?
From 'Meeting David Marshall in 1994'
:
Cane them! Hang them! There are more than a hundred queuing up to
be hanged, you know that?
[Minister For Law] Jayakumar said, I have plugged the loop-hole
whereby they could escape being hanged and just have twenty years
of imprisonment!
Oh, wacko the ducks you need a monument!
The joy of hanging people; flogging them, every stroke must break
the skin. I dont like it. I dont believe it is a deterrent. I see
no proof. Look, it seems to me logic! If every year we have more
death sentences, how can you say death sentence is a deterrent? If
it were, there should be less death sentences.
............................................................................................................................................
And Im according to Lee Kuan Yew in Parliament when he sought the
abolition of the jury, David Marshall is responsible for 200
murderers walking freely the streets of Singapore.
Im proud of that. I told him to put it on my tomb. If there are
200 people walking freely the streets of Singapore, it means they
are contributing to Singapore. Singapore would have been poorer by
hanging them. I have no compulsion.
............................................................................................................................................
Look, the purpose of criminal law is really two-fold: as a
deterrent and as a catharsis of society to express its
vengeance. If you escape it, youre no harm to society so
long as you maintain a good police force and so long as you
maintain a certain human justice in understanding.
For me, the punishment must not fit the crime,
the punishment must fit the criminal and
the punishment must fit the needs of
society.
............................................................................................................................................
There are more than a hundred people queuing to be hanged. There
are decent people there.
Look, theres a lovely phrase I forgot who coined it who said,
There but for the grace of God go I, I know no man who
stood totally spotless that he can say I committed no anti-social
act.
And so in our criminal code, if some escaped, thats an
asset.
Im reminded of a lovely story of Sir Walter Raleigh. On the
scaffold, he went up and tested the axe with his thumb and turning
to the master executioner, he said, This is the surest
cure for all diseases. If you want to eliminate all crime, you got
to eliminate all humanity.
I have absolutely no bad conscience about the men I have helped
escape the gallows and escape the prison. Im grateful for the
opportunity to have done that.