I’m sure Singapore is quaking in her boots. You’re going to cancel your Gas account AND your cell phone? That’ll show 'em, all right. Here’s a tissue, silly. :rolleyes:
Y’know, yer’ absolutely right Updike. It was a pathetic and feeble attempt to voice my pathetic and feeble opinion against what I believe to be a gross injustice.
But somehow, despite all of that, it made me feel that I had done *something. * And if other people do the same, or refuse to fly Singapore Airlines, or perhaps cancel that shopping-spree holiday they had planned…
Little drops in the ocean, individually, but collectively…?
I wouldn’t be surprised if a drop in tourism manages to show on the radar, partly because of a protest maybe but also because people might be simply scared to go to Singapore (whether or not that latter view is justified).
Instead of micro-economic tactics, kambuckta, why don’t the macro version – get enough of your nation’s citizens to tell your government to quit sucking up to a country with the death penalty on its books?
All well and good in theory, but petitioning does nothing unless the government itself has something to lose. Given that our nation is about 50/50 divided on whether Singapore was right to hang Nguyen, our government has no economic reason/s of their own to acquiesce to any ‘demands’ on the part of the anti-DP group.
But if 50% of Australians (or even the 5 or 10% of them) who might feel passionate enough to make their opinions known to the Singapore hip pocket, THEN our gummint might sit up and take notice.
I’m sure it was deleted/ignored on sight. However, I’m further sure that they got rather a few more than just mine. It all adds up - I don’t yet think Mr Nguyen had died completely in vain.
If you think it’s all funny, fine, kambuckta. Soon as you get serious, you might get somewhere with actually righting the world. 50% of Aussie reckons the execution was a good thing? I’d heard there’d been split surveys over your way. Do your boycott, hope enough folk follow your example because you’ve mentioned it here. Seriously, I wish you the best of luck. But when you decide to get serious about things – then I’ll say your chances of shifting things to a just state of affairs will improve.
'Till then, sadly, it’s all just pissing in the wind.
I didn’t leave out jack. He decided he was going to be a drug runner and the supplier decided to check out if the late Mr. Nguyen “had what it took.” Evidently, at least according to the late Mr. Nguyen did. Entirely voluntary. As was his decision to run drugs through Singapore.
Shagnasty, it’s pretty condescending to assume that Denis is being racist when he calls Singapore a fascist country. It’s an accurate observation of the extremely tight control the government has over it’s people.
It’s a fact that Singapore does not have a free press or free media: they rank 140th out of 167 countries for media freedom and have made attempts at censoring the internet sites their citizens are allowed to access.
They lead the world in executions per capita: Amnesty International report. They impose caning sentences for some murders, child exploitation and people smuggling crimes, but drug smuggling gets the death penalty.
They barely tolerate opposition parties to their current government party, which has been in place since 1965. Outdoor gatherings of more than 4 people require a police permit where you have to state your purpose, making organising protests nearly impossible.
My own opinion on this case is that the death penalty is always barbaric, and since the Singapore government has close trade ties with Burma (one of the world’s biggest producers of opium and heroin) it seems hypocritical of them to be executing drug traffickers while they make a profit from the drug trade themselves. Article from the Sydney Morning Herald.
As pointed above, you are quite mistaken as to the form of government of Australia[sup]1[/sup], the United Kingdom[sup]2[/sup], and Canada[sup]3[/sup].
By the way, Europe is composed of more than one country. Some of those countries happen to not be republics.
Then could have been born, raised, and educated in Singapore[sup]4[/sup], which afer all, is a republic.
Why don’t you pay attention to that? You assert that he merely wanted to help his brother. I assert, as the facts indicated, that he merely wanted to help his brother by committing a very serious crime in a jurisdiction that takes that very seriously.
Actually, the facts indicate he wanted to contribute to corruption of at least some Australians as that was his destination with the illegal drugs. He was also taking part in the corruption of at least some Cambodian citizens as that was the origin of his little “he’s not heavy” jaunt.
And the government of Singapore is very serious, as this case shows, about how it considers people trafficking in drugs by way of their territory.
How kind of you. Did you not even consider calling the appropriate authorities?
Well, bully for you.
That excuses everything, now, doesn’t it?
[sup]1[/sup]Commonwealth of Australia; Democratic, federal-state system recognizing British monarch as sovereign.
[sup]2[/sup]United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Constitutional monarchy.
[sup]3[/sup]Canada; Confederation with parliamentary democracy; Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II.
[sup]4[/sup]Singapore; Parliamentary republic.