The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsThe moral blind spot: From executions to dissent
Hanging elderly convicts and criminalizing peaceful vigils isn’t strong governance; it is a posture of institutional shame and insecurity.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
Anti-death penalty activists attend a candlelight vigil outside the Singaporean embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 8, 2021, to protest the impending execution of Malaysian national Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, who was convicted of trafficking heroin in the island nation. Dharmalingam was executed at Singapore’s Changi Prison Complex on April 27, 2022. (AFP/Mohd Rasfan)
Shame and embarrassment.
Normally, opinion writers must be careful in choosing their words. Policy issues rarely exist in simple black and white; they resist broad brushstrokes, oversimplifications and crude generalizations. Nuance is the bedrock of sound policymaking, and any honest commentary should reflect that complexity.
My personal views and beliefs reflect my own values and may differ from those of others, yet it remains essential to treat differing perspectives with fairness and good faith.
Still, I can find no words other than “shame” and “embarrassment” to describe the Singaporean government’s record on civil liberties and human rights, particularly regarding capital punishment and freedom of expression.
As is often the case, my primary window into the state of affairs in the Lion City is Kirsten Han, a talented writer, journalist and human rights defender who has consistently offered an alternative, critical narrative of Singaporean politics and society. An internationally acclaimed award-winning journalist, Han (whom I have never met) writes the incisive weekly newsletter We, The Citizens, exemplifying that rare combination of rigorous reporter and committed activist.
Consider capital punishment. In the first week of August, a 79-year-old stateless man was executed at Changi Prison, having been convicted in June 2023 of trafficking 24.81 grams of heroin in early 2020. As Han reported, he became the 16th person put to death in the country this year alone.
On Aug. 18, independent experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council condemned these executions once again. According to a press release, the experts reaffirmed the abolition of the death penalty worldwide as "the ultimate objective under international human rights law”.
