Finally, a sensible article from ST. Writer Ken Kwek argues that our country should reassess the death penalty, because the abolition of it is simply too unrealistic for Singapore. I agree. I’m personally still undecided about capital punishment. It’s hard for me to say it should be abolished, i.e. Pol Pot and Hitler, serial Silence-of-Lambs-esque killers would deserve the death penalty. But those are the extreme cases.

In Nguyen’s case, despite my previous post that might hint otherwise, I agree that it’ll be too difficult for Singapore to step down now. The law is clear and everyone knows it’s such in Singapore. There was no doubt in this case that he smuggled heroin strapped to his back. He has admitted to doing it, for reasons of getting his brother off debt, but he did it, and he took a gamble and lost.

What I’d like to call for right now is more transparency to this law, i.e. not all cases will be this clear-cut and there should be more noise (for and against) about it. This society must decide for itself what it wants. Also, as Ken Kwek argues, our country’s death penalty should re-look it’s simplistic sweep of offenses that are clearly of different degrees.

…the problem with the anti-death penalty movement is not inconsistency, but that it is too simplistic and indiscriminate, viewing criminality in broad and absolute terms…

How do we determine, for instance, whether a person smuggling 500g of cannabis causes as much social harm as one trafficking in 15g of heroin? According to the law, both are equally harmful and punishable by mandatory death…Is smuggling 500g of cannabis (a considerably milder drug than heroin) as atrocious as killing another person in cold blood?

…The axiomatic principle held by activists, that the death penalty is simply wrong across the board, only serves to promote an ideal wholly divorced from the reality of Singapore’s laws. It does little to encourage greater scrutiny and review of the mandatory death penalty, and the crimes to which it applies.

…Perhaps in the months ahead, when emotions have died down, the mandatory death penalty – meaning its case-by-case, crime-by-crime application – should be reassessed by lawyers, officials and citizens alike.

If that happens, we should all focus on the specific – how the mandatory death penalty might be removed for certain crimes – rather than fall for the broadbrush rhetoric calling for its complete and unconditional abolition.

All that BS-talk about Singapore’s sovereignty and how we cannot bow down to the bloody ang mohs is tosh and debates based on that disrespects the more important and humane issue: what is the value we put on human life vs. the harm put out by the crime committed.

In this case, the heroin he trafficked does kill, but he will not kill, the person injecting himself with heroin kills himself. Even if you want to take the stand of killing the indirect killer, why is marijuana put in the same category, where it is pretty much impossible to kill yourself with pot? (no I’m definitely not a pothead, I’m going by facts). Also, on that same scale, shouldn’t the manufacturers, importers and sellers of alcohol and cigarettes all be killed for killing so many indirectly?

Ultimately however, if you want to bring in the ’sovereignty’ argument, it is this society that should decide what we want in our country. As Sudhir said, "if Singaporeans want the death penalty, then fine, so be it, we should be allowed to live how we want". The problem is, there has never been a referendum to find out what this society wants. Neither has there been a near-balanced public discourse about it to educate people clearly of what we would be voting for even if there is one held.

So what do we do? Well, there should be more media exposure listing down one by one with facts and statistics of the effects of each drug/crime. There should be more philosophical debates about the basis of capital punishment (re: Marx). There should then be a genuine nation-wide referendum to decide where our society stands on this. If we choose to continue with our laws, then we will continue with status quo, hopefully, with more press transparency with each subsequent case. Unfortunately, there are too many in our government (and yes, I have spoken to our own civil servants) that think this society is not mature nor intelligent enough to handle this kinda debate.

I hope they are wrong. Let’s hope the tide will turn. Re: Singabloodypore.

Singapore’s executioner Darshan Singh has been sacked, due to this article in The Australian. I wrote about this before and I would like to write about this again.

This is fucking fucked up.

Who cares? Just another fucked up boy that fucked up mah. What’s his name again? Nguyen Tuong Van? Har? Who cares? Who’s he anyway? We don’t know him. Doesn’t concern me what. Doesn’t affect my life what. Kill, kill lor…stupid drug dealers trying to infect my society with drugs and all that bad stuff. Of course must kill lah!

On a completely unrelated note, I turn my eyes to a Stanley Tookie Williams halfway across the world. Now, Tookie is a pretty well-known ex-gang leader in America, but I only learnt of him today. He was sentenced to death in 1981, and is due to be executed in 13 Dec 05 (how inefficient! not like us Singaporeans hor?). In the meantime, he has rehabilitated himself, written 9 books for children, been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and effectively became the poster-child for anti-gangsterism (most true, says my husband, who had taught these kids most susceptible to gangs and crime in the ghetto for 5 years). Now there’s a big Hollywood hoo-hah to grant Tookie clemency.

Should he be given that privelege? I don’t know. I don’t know enough about the case right now to make any kind of judgement. It’s a pretty fucking controversial issue that Tookie thing. I’m even at odds over myself with regards to capital punishment. I wouldn’t vote against it, but capital punishments should be used in the rarest of occasions. >400 in the last 13 years for a (extremely sedate) population of 3-4m is not rare.

Wah lau, what Tuong, what Tookie? Who cares lah! Write all this for wat? Just for dat bloody druggie drug dealer? Dat gangster? Gimme headache only lah. Don’t think so much lah! Kill, kill lor! Who are they? They stupid what. That Tuong guy. Know our country have these laws also go and do this kind of things? We have death penalty good what, then got no drugs here. Eh, then why so many people still kena hang ah?

Punishment in general has been defended as a means either of ameliorating or of intimidating. Now what right have you to punish me for the amelioration or intimidation of others? And besides, there is history — there is such a thing as statistics — which prove with the most complete evidence that since Cain the world has neither been intimidated nor ameliorated by punishment. Quite the contrary.

…Plainly speaking, and dispensing with all paraphrases, punishment is nothing but a means of society to defend itself against the infraction of its vital conditions, whatever may be their character. Now, what a state of society is that, which knows of no better Instrument for its own defense than the hangman, and which proclaims through the “leading journal of the world” its own brutality as eternal law?

…is there not a necessity for deeply reflecting upon an alteration of the system that breeds these crimes, instead of glorifying the hangman who executes a lot of criminals to make room only for the supply of new ones?

Karl Marx, 1863, New York Tribune
(found from newsocialist.org; full article)

Har? gong simi lan? Dunno lah. Doesn’t affect my life what.

We checked out Beck: Retrospectives yesterday. My favs were Michel Gondry’s Deadweight and Shynola’s E-Pro. Thereafter, it was Makino where Hifana played live.

Wow! Wow! Wow!

They were fabulous. Their technical skills, not only on the decks but visual as well, were top-notch, no doubt, but it was their personality that took it up to the Wow! scale.

And boy oh boy (KK, take note), most of the Jap dudes last night, on stage and in audience….frickin’ hot! I claimed that Thai men were most beautiful in Asia. I now vote for that specific category of Japanese men: those that can carry off facial hair, long dreadlocks or samurai haircut. Yummy!

I first caught Resfest in SF 2 years ago and have been a fan ever since. I was somewhat disappointed last year because it was Resfest’s first time in Singapore and we got the cropped version of it.

Resfest is back this weekend, expanded from last year’s and I’d like to promote Resfest on this blog. You’d be amazed at the extent of human creativity beyond our tried and tested.

We just came home from Ginga: The Soul of Brasilian Football, which pretty much made me feel like a waste of human muscle. Excellent documentary. And I’m looking forward to watching Shorts One, Two, Three, Cinema Electronica, Just for Kicks, Infamy, Beck and Tracktor this weekend.

It’s Resfest Week guys…go check it out at The Lee Foundation Theatre in the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts on Bencoolen Street (next to Sim Lim). 

Application for Singapore Permanent Residence

The following categories of foreigners are eligible to submit applications:

1. Spouse and unmarried children (below 21 years old) of a Singapore Citizen (SC)/Permanent Resident (SPR);
2. Aged parents of a Singapore Citizen;
3. P, Q or S work pass holders;
4. Investors/Entrepreneurs;
5. Hong Kong residents who satisfy certain guidelines can apply for permanent residence by submitting applications through SMC Management Consultants Pte Ltd in Singapore.

For (1) and (2), you use the same Form 4. In Form 4, you see 4 check boxes right at the top for you to tick:

• I am the wife/child of a Singapore citizen
• I am the wife/child of a Singapore permanent resident
• I am the parent of a Singapore citizen
• For other reasons (please specify) ______________________

Now, given the process of elimination from (1) and (2), the only option left for "others" would be "I am the HUSBAND of a Singapore citizen/permanent resident".  So why isn’t the husband given his own check boxes?

My guess is that it would be rarer for a man to be applying for PR through his spouse rather than through his job, which would be a (3) requiring Form 4A.

Still, my poor husband, he feels so sidelined. Husbands don’t get their own check boxes. *sniff*.

On the flip side, the form pretty much does not recognize that there will be working women sponsoring husbands to stay here. I guess it’s still rare enough to be fine for now, but this is gonna be increasingly anachronistic of ‘em.

The weather has been delightful (by Singapore standards; everything is relative) hasn’t it these coupla days?

Took my parents to Brewerkz for lunch on a lazy Sunday afternoon and the balmy, un-humid (wow!) weather was just lovely. Alec and Michelle stroll by out of the blue, on their way to Ninja Tunes. When my parents left after 3pm, we decided to hang out for a bit and enjoy the weather. Alec pops out and asks if he can joins us for a drink or two. Sure! the Chansidines say. And the C.dine& Malloy (note 2 Irish names) and the non-alcoholic Chan (clearly drinking nothing but water) ended up staying there for the next 6 hours with about 8-10 rounds of pints. I lost count. Who was counting? ‘Twas a lovely day really…you know how there is a quiet movement Make Alec Blog? Well, this man is quite a riot in real life, especially after the 5th pint. Blogging has become so un-cool lately anyway…*phht* I blame the S’pore blogosphere or whachamacallit. So much purely distasteful material out there these days associated with ‘Singapore blogs’ that makes me wanna crawl in a hole should I be associated in the same category. Go read Maddox. Please.

Blogosphere: The "blogosphere" is the new buzz word that has replaced "information super highway." It’s what idiots like to call a collection of "blogs," otherwise known as a tragedy.

I digress. We watched Harry Potter this evening and I loved it. Every bit of it. Excellent effects, excellent story telling, excellent casting, and just a damn good escapism movie. Lord Voldemort is exactly the way I wanted him to be…beautifully evil. Very Shakespearean Richard III-esque. Villians are only fabulous when they relish in evil. Brilliant, I say!  

Thanks to my brother who introduced us to Maddox…a tribute to Idaho…and it’s surrounding areas:

Idaho is possibly the only state in the union that actively makes its residents become shitty drivers because of how uninteresting it is. There aren’t any "skyscrapers" in Idaho, so when they get bored, they drive down to Utah to gawk at ours. The only problem is, there aren’t any skyscrapers in Utah either. Here’s a comparison chart to show the tallest building in Salt Lake City (the largest city in Utah), to some landmarks in real cities:

I’ve pissed higher than the tallest building in Utah. So you can imagine how bored you’d have to be to come here.

I propose that we give Idaho back to the British, since that’s who we got it from in the first place. I don’t think it’ll be too much of a problem because there aren’t a lot of people in Idaho. According to the 2004 Census report, Idaho’s population is 1,393,262. Just for comparison, there are 1,970,000 cows in Idaho. New rule: if your state has more cows than people, you don’t get to be a state anymore.

Another reason why I’d never move to America outside of Bay Area or NYC. *knock on wood*

If you have been wondering how Zion’s been doing, she’s been doing well. She is without exaggeration the craziest cat anyone has met, but she’s delightful. She is a good companion to the Fat One though…he hasn’t misbehaved once with his poo (that used to irk me to no end) since Zion’s been around. So we have with us the Fattest Cat in the world and the Craziest.

And when she gets too dirty, we just pop her in the wash!

And now, the culmination of the Wealth of a Nation…*drumroll*…pumpkin shooting!

Every year since 1986, near Millsboro, the Punkin Chunkin has been held. Last week, 100 teams vied to see whose machine could toss an 8-10lb (3.6-4.6kg) pumpkin farthest. There were various categories: air cannons, trebuchets, pedal-powered doohickeys. No explosives are allowed—a galling rule to some contestants. But the biggest air cannons, with barrels up to 150 feet (46 metres) long, can shoot their fruit projectiles most of a mile, making each one what one spectator called “one heck of a peashooter”.

Something to be proud of…

All in all, Punkin Chunkin is a symbol of what makes America great. Only in the richest country on earth could regular guys spend tens of thousands of dollars building a pumpkin gun. Only in a nation with such a fine tradition of inventiveness, not to mention martial prowess, would so many choose to. And only in a land of wide open spaces would they be able to practise their chunkin without killing their neighbours.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, 100,000 have died from the Kashmir earthquake, likely to double over the winter with scarce attention from the rest of the world. We live in a strange world, boy oh boy.

Since Blogging ranks below entertaining out of town guests, traveling, work and spending quality time in evenings with husband and not glued to the computer, alas, blogging has taken a back seat.

Pat’s brother (Brendan) and sister-in-law (Amy), also newlyweds, since Aug 05, were in town last week. They weren’t too impressed with Singapore, in that it seemed no different from any other American city (only much more humid), but loved Bangkok (I’ve yet to hear someone say they didn’t like Thailand).  The Ambassador was quite a steal, especially if you get a high-floor Deluxe room in the new Tower wing. Very good buffet breakfast (although Pat & I only managed to wake-up for 1 out of 3 mornings), awesome view with floor to ceiling windows and close to Nana Station. We found the best masseuse outside of Wat Pho (Wat Pho trained of course…there really is a difference), right outside Ambassador: Foot Joy  1/7 Sukhumvit Soi 11 Tel: 02-255-4083 (ask for On or Pab). Brendan & Amy went nuts in MBK for a good 7 hours on day 1, having to buy a gigantic suitcase for their stuff. Day 2, we touched Chinatown and Wat Pho but was caught in a massive thunderstorm where lightning cracked right next to us (*shudder*).

A highlight, aside from great massages, was our dinner at Sirocco. I had drinks there the last time and swore to return and it was just as spectacular as I remembered. What a treat it was. The service was top-notch and the food was good (not superb but good).

An experience stood out. As we had our feet massaged on the first night, Brendan asked one of the masseuses if she’d like to go to America. She said yes, but she had no chance, no money. She pointed at me and said "she, lucky!" I am once again reminded of the strange twist of fate that dealt me the opportunities to be sitting on the chair, not rubbing someone’s feet for 3 dollars an hour. Given less opportunities, would I have chosen to rub feet for 3 dollars an hour, or hang out on Soi Cowboy looking for a whale of a farang to be a sugar daddy for the night (yikes)?

It all doesn’t matter to the Thais, which are arguably one of the most open and accepting societies. I asked my father’s Thai friend whom we met there what he thought of the Thai women with old ugly fat white men (a sight that was quite an eye-opener for my sub-urban Floridian in-laws), and he shrugged and said "it’s their life". Indeed, when we walked around the Soi Cowboy vicinity where our hotel was, the only people looking with judging eyes were us tourists and I blush in shame for that.

How do we react with a neutral heart and mind to such disconcerting situations, which are relative in nature anyway? I imagine an alien from the future anlayzing my life and look in pity at how I ‘prostitute’ my 9 hours a day sitting in front of the computer looking at numbers.

But as I have said before: I love my job. It’s been getting busy at work these days, and I love it. Being completely occupied all day is much better than fucking around waiting for 630pm. Everyday I read about what different companies do all over the world and I marvel at the dynamism and beauty of the capitalist world. It’s easy to denounce the big ‘C’ word, and there are many ills to be corrected (but usually because pure capitalism is not able to proceed freely), but gosh darn it, I am typing this on my laptop connecting to the world on a software because someone produced it and it still fascinates me, especially after reading about all the shit & work that goes into a producing entity (person or company).