I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. - Abraham Lincoln
A minute's silence, a minute's sadness
Then it's back to the madness:
Official murder, official violence;
A minute's lonely, wretched silence.Michael Leunig, on the date of Van Nguyen's execution
And then there was General William Westmoreland's infamous quote, in part: "Life is cheap in the Orient". But he was only half right. Life is cheap everywhere. The so-called sanctity of life is in the eye of the beholder. Priests celebrate God's gift of life while buggering the life out of young boys. Righteous anti-abortionists kill the living to protect a foetus that has yet to have human qualities. The then governor and religious fanatic George W. Bush killed Texan prisoners on death row because he could. Singapore's government has killed Van Nguyen to save face.
Stupid. Barbaric. Unnecessary. The result of a civilisation conned by power-hungry madness. Van Nguyen had shown every sign of fully understanding his crime. He had repented. He had shown compassion for others. He was courageous. He was serene. In his last days, he has become a model for everything the late, great Christ stood for.
As we all know, if we're not stupid, these qualities are spoken of highly by those in power, but in practice, they are not tolerated.
And the crime itself? Unlike the corrupt practices employed by business and governments, Van Nguyen committed his crime out of filial love. Yes, it was naïve and foolish to an extreme. But we see crimes committed every day by those in power for reasons that are too despicable to mention in the same breath as Van Nguyen's. And these criminals, the mates of those in power, get away with it. They are revered in the business community
Much has been made of Van Nguyen's crime of transporting heroin: 396 grams, enough for 26,000 hits. But what is the proportion of those addicted to heroin to those addicted to alcohol? How many die from heroin overdoes compared to those whose lives have been snuffed out through drunk driving and alcohol rage? How many alcoholics, who have made life hell for their families, are among the vigilantes righteously insisting on death sentences for drug couriers?
Alcohol is a drug. Among all the drugs available on this planet, it is the most lethal and the least beneficial to a perceptive mind. In fact, alcohol operates on the brain to narrow perceptions. It reduces awareness and as such is the drug preferred by the employers of the planet's slave populations.
But would we prefer it if we had a choice? We all drink alcohol because it is legal just about everywhere, while almost all other drugs are forbidden. The reason? Consciousness expanding drugs are bad for business. Alcohol is not. You can still show up for work after a night of drinking. Other drugs clearly show you the insidious folly of wasting every day of your life for the pittance that buys you a cocoon to stave off the inevitable death you spend your whole life in fear of. Alcohol is promoted because you can drown your sorrows with it at night. It helps you get over yet another meaningless day.
History is nothing if not a chronicle of repression of the human spirit. We, the human race, have been engineered to behave like insects, each with an allotted task to perform for the enhancement of patriarchal power.
In my opinion all drugs should be legalised. Every last one. With textbooks written by sane people on the benefits and dangers of each. With the ease of availability, their "cool" factor would be replaced by a rational approach. Drug dealers would become an extinct species. How often do you hear of alcohol dealers?
But this will never happen. It would signal an enormously radical shift in human evolution. The human mind could flourish unimpeded by conservative fear of change, of innovation, of, let's face it, everything that moves. We could truly begin to evolve instead of marching in place as we have since the beginning.
In the meantime it's business as usual: the wasted lifetimes of billions of expendable souls.
Finally, if you want to know what people like Van Nguyen are feeling in the hours before their execution, see Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark. The singer Bjork, in her only ever acting performance, won best actress at Cannes for her spine-chilling, heart-breaking, monumental performance as a representative of the human race and the routine injustice we constantly face from ignorance in power.
Socially, exaggeration is often whimsical. But when a government dramatically inflates numbers to help justify a death sentence, the integrity of both the trial and its governing body becomes questionable. In this case, the government is Singapore, the trial was for Van Tuong Nguyen, and the bloated number is 26,000.
Press from around the world quotes Abdullah Tarmugi, the Speaker of Singapore Parliament, in writing about the potential consequences of Van's actions, "almost 400 grams of pure heroin, enough for more than 26,000 doses."
But how was 26,000 doses (or "hits") derived?
It turns out that what constitutes a hit of heroin is not an easy thing to count. There are dozens of factors to consider; contact your local Needle Exchange for a comprehensive list. However, after collecting statistics from over a dozen sources (including police reports, narcotics web sites, health information, and workers from needle exchanges), the number of hits from a gram of pure heroin averages out to little more than 14.
Van Tuong Nguyen trafficked 396.2 grams of heroin into Singapore. This is approximately 5,600 doses.
The numbers 5,600 and 26,000 are obviously incongruous, as are reports that 400 grams of heroin would "ruin 26,000 lives". In fact, 400 grams of heroin would not come close to ruining even 5,600 lives. Rather, the heroin would most likely supply people already abusing it. With a little more research, we can estimate how many lives would be adversely affected by 400 grams of heroin during one year:
As many as 67, and as few as 6.
Van Tuong Nguyen would not have sent 26,000 people to their deaths from 400 grams of heroin. Nor would the lives of 26,000 people have been ruined. Far more likely is that six people would get a year's worth of hits. And for this he was executed?
Call it dreadful, call it dense, call it incomprehensible ... but do not call it justice.
Posted by Dave on December 2, 2005
I believe that Nguyen should have gotten the death penalty. He had about 14 ounced of heroin that could kill many people(s). Singapore is very safe a clean and it is their laws that keep it that way. They can't change it just for one man. Then many people can become drug mules and get off free. I understand that killing people is wrong but he knew what he was doing no matter if it was a good cause towards his brother. It shows loyalty, yes. But he did something bad. He smuggled heroin and that isn't right. This is all feelings aside and just the facts. He was a good man who did the wrong thing.
Posted by Katie on April 16, 2006