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…