Read this..from a writer to the Arizona Republic
newspaper..
Singapore is not a bloodthirsty city
Dec. 13, 2005 12:00 AM
A recent letter to the editor suggested we should "immediately"
execute anyone "having anything to do with drugs" in public "like
they do in Singapore" ("Use extreme prejudice on drug dealers,"
Letters, Wednesday).
Almost nothing in that letter is accurate. I worked in Singapore
and I can tell you this:
The death penalty is imposed there for exceeding a weight limit
on the drugs in your possession. If you are a user, you would get
jail. If you have enough to sell, you get the noose.
Their court system works much the same as here. There is an
appeals process, and nobody is executed immediately. The Australian
who was executed there last week was arrested three years ago. They
are not bloodthirsty. While I was there, they went to a lot of
trouble (separating out seeds and stems) to get under the limit to
avoid hanging a 20-year-old girl.
There are no public executions in Singapore. They are even more
private than here. There are no witnesses.
That being said, it is one of the safest places I have ever been.
You can walk down the street in the middle of the night anywhere on
the island counting your money. If someone is robbed, it is
news.
So, the writer is not completely off base, but Singapore is not
China, where executions take place the same day as the trial. -
Jeff Bock, Goodyear
