Though I did not use drugs nor did I ever carry them, nervousness overwhelmed me in a trip to Singapore when I read the sign written in red at the Changi airport, “Death for Anyone Found with Drugs.”
Last week they proved they meant what the say. Singapore executed an Australian drug trafficker just before dawn on December 2 despite repeated pleas by Australian government for clemency.
Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, was hanged at the city-state’s Changi prison just after 6.00 am (2200 GMT). A minute after the execution, a large church bell in Nguyen’s home city of Melbourne tolled 25 times--once for every year of his life.
The hanging follows weeks of campaigning by his lawyers, his family and civil rights groups to stop the execution. Thousands gathered in Australia to pray and mourn for Nguyen in the final 24 hours of his life while Singapore activists moved in pairs overnight to light candles at the prison, according to media reports.
Public gatherings of more than four people require a police permit in the tightly controlled city-state. “I hope the strongest message that comes out of this...is a message to the young of Australia --don’t have anything to do with drugs, don’t use them, don’t touch them, don’t carry them, don’t traffic them,” Australian Prime Minister told Australian radio.
This is a clear message to the people of northeast India too where rampant trafficking is going on unabated in states like Manipur, Mizoram and in some parts of other states. No one can take the law into his own hands but the masses should cooperate with the concerned authorities to take stringent action against drug traffickers.
It is written in the book of Ecclesiastes, the eighth chapter,” Because the sentence against the evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
It is also good to remind ourselves again, that the three top “items” being trafficked surreptitiously in the world today are drugs, women and guns. And it is truly horrendous that the region is progressing well ahead of others in this line of things.
To repeat the words of the Australian Prime Minister, “Don’t use them, don’t traffic them, don’t touch.”
Wungkui Zimik
Shillong
