The Nguyen Tuong Van Case: When Mercy Seasons Justice

By J. Fairbank

It seems as if Shakespeare himself was addressing the Nguyen Tuong Van case in this oft-quoted and oft-unheeded passage from The Merchant of Venice.

Singaporean government officials are among the most well-educated people in the world. I hope they find the time and inclination to dwell upon the passage below:


“The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. ‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown. His scepter shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings. But mercy is above this sceptered sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings; It is an attribute of God himself; And earthly power doth then show like God’s when mercy seasons justice.”

THE CASE FOR NGUYEN TUONG VAN

By Jonathan Fairbank
On Friday, December 2, 2005, convicted Vietnamese-Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van will be hanged at Changi Prison. Where is Changi Prison, you might wonder. Is it in some run-down Third World country, where if you drink the water, you’ll get the run for days? Is it in relatively unenlightened China?

No and no. Changi Prison is in the ultra-modern, ultra-sleek Republic of Singapore. The Republic is well-known for its stringent laws. People in the United States will remember the Singaporean government’s mandated caning of American teenager-vandal Michael Faye in the early 1990’s.

Nguyen, who is 25 years old, has been convicted of trafficking 396 grams of heroin through—not to—Singapore in December 2002. He was on his way back to Australia when Singaporean authorities discovered the contraband strapped to his body.

Does this case rise to the level of death by hanging? A resounding NO according to both the people and government of Australia. Indeed, both the Australian people and government have been heroically relentless in their attempt to save Nguyen’s life. Another resounding NO from the United Nations Special Envoy. And add another NO from this humble commentator.

I am no abolitionist when it comes to the death penalty. Indeed, I am a supporter of the death penalty as the ultimate punishment for the most egregious crimes. This crime deserves a jail term, not the ultimate penalty, especially in light of the fact that the harm resulting from Nguyen’s smuggling would fall upon Australians not Singaporeans as he was returning to Australia with the drugs. A robust lawyer might even argue that in this case Australian law—and not Singaporean law—applies.

At any rate, Nguyen will be hanged as scheduled on December 2. The tiny Republic of Singapore has never yielded to international pressure, not even to the United States when the Clinton Administration attempted to spare Faye from being flogged.

So next time when the word Singapore appears on Reuters, what images will come to mind? A city with impeccably clean streets? A city of creativity and the arts as the Singaporean government has re-branded it? Or the photographic images above, which suggest an ultra-modern city still trapped in 19th century thinking…

MEDIA BIAS?

MEDIA BIAS?

Gilchrist for Congress

By Mark Cooper-Basset

Mr. Cooper-Basset is an independent writer based in Orange County, CA.

I am pleased to endorse Jim Gilchrist for Congress to represent California's 48th Congressional District. Mr. Gilchrist epitomizes the Jeffersonian spirit of the citizen-politician. He identified illegal immigration as a grave problem. He took action by spearheading the Minutemen Project, which at the time of its inception, was a controversial and politically incorrect endeavor. And he oversaw the Project through its successful implementation in April 2005.

Whether one agrees with Mr. Gilchrist or not, one cannot help but admire his tenacity and his willingness to take an unambiguous stance.

The Bigger Picture: the Dawn Yang Controversy

Lately, the blogosphere in Asia has gone crazy over one topic: Dawn Yang. She is the 21-year-old Singaporean student who apparently underwent plastic surgery, according to many critics, in order to look more "Western." And the result is a stunningly beautiful super-woman. See before and after photos above.

Moreover, Ms. Yang is not alone in Asia. Over the last five years, plastic surgery has become so popular among Asian men and women that it is hard to tell which body parts on people you meet are the real McCoy.

Therein lies the controversy. On its face, pun fully intended, plastic surgery is a personal choice, and no one except the patient him-/herself should make the call. However, there is a larger, more global issue at hand.

When I was an undergraduate (so many years ago), I read an article written by a Japanese-American who felt so pressured to fit into his mainly white community that he underwent surgery to look "more white." Years later, he saw the light and regretted it. The point of the article was that societal racism had informed him that only Anglo-Saxon features were considered good-looking, and sadly enough, he internalized that racism. The evidence to support this contention is pervasive. Look at the popular media: Virtually, every person advertised as good-looking is white. (Yes, media inclusiveness has improved significantly over the last 15 years in the United States, but there's still a long way to go.)

Hence, in this connection, Ms. Yang's decision to undergo surgery becomes a broader question than just a rich girl's fancy. What is her epistomology about the concept of beauty? How well-rounded is her understanding of beauty?

If the answers to the questions above are not copasetic, then Ms. Yang might be another victim of societal racism. And if that's the case, chances are the thousands of plastic surgery cases that have taken place in Asia over the last few years are not personally informed choices either.