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Abolishing death penalty is a long game to play
It is essential to create a critical mass, a larger audience of new generation Singaporeans who are ready and equipped to question the death penalty.
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Right to life: People display placards and lights during a vigil for Malaysian drug convict Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam at Speakers corner in Singapore, April 25, 2022. (AFP/Roslan Rahman)
W
e all know it is not easy to be a civil society activist in Singapore. It is even harder if you campaign against the death penalty with relentless determination and an overarching commitment to justice, together with the hope that things might one day change.
This is the case of Kokila Annamalai, an abolitionist campaigner who helped me better understand possible avenues to changing the status quo in Singapore.
The execution of Malaysian national Nagaenthran Dharmalingam in April was a turning point not only for activists like Kokila but for a multitude of citizens that for the first time had the courage to protest against the system.
Unfortunately, nothing has changed since the execution. Earlier this month, two other death row inmates, Nazeri Bin Lajim and Abdul Rahim Bin Shapiee, were hanged.
People outside of Singapore know about the draconian law, but many do not understand the complexities of a legal system that the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) rightly says is “stacked” against the accused.
Kokila, a cofounder of the TJC, made me aware that the death penalty should not be seen in isolation but rather as part of a wider legal framework limiting freedom in Singapore.
For example, during interrogation with police officials, you cannot avail to any legal counsel. It also means that the statutory privilege against self-incrimination, or the right to stay silent in lay terms, exists only on paper.
