[redbean]

Obama's speech in UN on corporate excesses

This is the gist of what Obama said at the UN on corporate excesses, cheats and corruptions in high places. 'And that means setting new rules of the road and strengthening regulation for all financial centres, so that we put an end to the greed, excess and abuse that led us into disaster, and prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again.'

We have been copying corporate America like a little twin. Would we continue to copy America and start to tighten our regulations, or we are in such a comfortable position that we can sail along as it is?

Maybe we can. We don't have that kind of excesses and corruption in the scale of corporate America. We don't have bankers paying themselves hundreds of millions. We don't have banks and insurance companies going down. We don't have a housing crisis.

I think we are doing very well. Carry on.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Weeny warlords and draconian policies

Singapore is seen by the world as an authoritarian state rightly or wrongly. We have many 'draconian' laws ranging from banning of chewing gums, caning and the death penalty. From a Singaporean point of view, especially from the angle of law abiding citizens, such laws don't really affect them as they are targetted at the irresponsible and criminals. In fact such laws are seen as good by many, including foreigners who came from their land of disorder and near anarchy.

This culture of handing down tough laws and policies have over time seeped into the veins of many weeny little warlords who have no qualms in dishing them out to the masses. One favourite item is to make things compulsory, even to the extent of impounding the people's money under whatever guises. And we even have jail penalty for commuters who cheat the bus company of a few cents.

In today's ST, Goh Eng Yeow wrote a long article about the stiff penalty that the Stock Exchange is handing down to small traders for carelessness. The fine is a hefty $1000 for data entry error or a mistake that may be worth a few hundred or a few tens of dollars. Goh Eng Yeow's article explained fully the whole gist of the matter which he described as another form of draconian laws that this island is infamous for. The sad thing is that many poor buggers were punished for a small unintentional mistake.

Maybe a $1000 fine is not worth mentioning in the eyes of the little warlords. What is $1000?!!! It is so little, so small, and people should not quibble over it. Well, when one can be fined for a few thousand dollars for chewing gum offence, this $1000 fine is not even close to a peanut. And nobody cares. Everyone of some importance will have more important things to do than to bother about little people being fined for $1000, rightly or wrongly.

Small people should count themselves lucky if their heads are not cut off by the warlords within us.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

A storm in paradise

Typhoon Ketsana is sweeping through the Philippines and threatening the lives of millions of Filipinos. 7.5 richter scale earthquake hit Padang and Bengkulu in Indonesia, burying villages and villagers and flattening towns and destroying lives and properties. No amount of international aids can minimise the pain and suffering of these affected people.

In paradise, our media were flooded with news of a storm in the form of boomz and rats. Some had a good laugh but some were dead serious. On reflection, we are very blessed as a little country. We are spared from the ferocity and rages of nature. We are blessed with an able govt that is working so hard to make this a better paradise everyday. Are we lucky?

We have our little irritations and irritants in our midst but more like the itches of mosquito bites. Nothing earth shattering or crisis like except for the little recklessness in the financial flirtation with making easy money and with no regards to responsibilities.

From the big picture we are indeed very fortunate and a paradise. We have good govt and public administrators working their guts out for the people. But there are still some little people with small hearts that are making decisions that will affect adversely the lives of our people. The earlier we get rid of them the better. We cannot have small people with small hearts to make public policies and decisions for the people. In govt and public services, we need people with a different mindset, people with ideals and with a big heart to serve the people, to want the best for the people.

A good example is the expectation in public housing and the way it is heading. There are little people who think that the losers in life should be happy if they have a roof over their heads, even a dog kennel will do. And it is ok to pay a life time, spending a big chunk of their income just to have a roof and 4 walls around them. Whatever, a flat is just that. You do not need to pay a lifetime for it.

The govt needs to relook at the housing policy, how small it shall go and no further, and how much it shall cost and no more. And it is bad to have people waiting for 3 years just to get a roof over their head. The HDB was very successful in their early days to provide a roof to anyone who needs it. It only took a few months from application to moving in. This is a good and excellent policy for the people. But some jokers think that this was bad. People must made to wait. Waiting for 3 years is good, or normal. I want to use the four letter word here.

A little oversupply of public housing is good. A 80 sq m 3 rm flat or a 90 sq m 4 rm flat must be the bottom that we should go in building homes for our average citizens. Going smaller is bad. The small 1 or 2 rm rental flats must be temporary shelters for those who have lost their ways or their luck ran out on them. Those must not be considered as the standard for a decent living for our people.

We are using state land and public money and we must use them wisely and with a little generosity for the good of the people. To have good public policies favouring the people, we need good govt. And good govt must not be contaminated with little people with small hearts.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Low Thia Khiang is furious

Finally he spoke out after months of silence. He was literally left out in the cold in the current Lift Upgrading Programme. He was expected to put in his thumb print while Eric Low front up in announcing the LUP for Hougang. The grassroot adviser, not the elected MP, took on the leadership role to run the constituency. Oops, let me correct this. The grassroot adviser took on the role to announce the Lift Upgrading Programme. What other important roles he was involved, like deciding which precinct or flats that are deserving, how much etc, I am not sure. The MP, the representative elected by the people to look after their affairs and the estate has been sidelined.

Here we have an MP, not part of the ruling govt, but a representative in Parliament, and an adviser, not part of the govt, but an appointee of a ruling party, both contesting to serve the residents.

Who should do the job? Who has been chosen by the people to do the job? The answer seems simple enough. But is that so?

HDB has given all its right and good reasons why the grassroot leader should do the job. Period. Whose money is involved in the LUP, people's money, govt money, or party money?

Now, what has Chiam See Tong got to say on this? He is also affected, I think. Would he write another letter to the ST forum like Low Thia Khiang?
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

'Ya1 Ban2'

Ha, the 2 words did not make any sense to many. Try to read it in Hokien. The second word should sound like 'barn'. They are used to describe the callous and unreasonable logic and reasons of the rich and powerful whose argument would always end in 'head I win, tail you lose', no matter how illogical their position is.

Someone has used these terms to describe the LUP in Hougang and Potong Pasir. From the beginning I thought the award of LUP in the two opposition wards was to bring a message that the govt is neutral, fair and just, and will allocate national resources to all the tax payers equally, regardless of race, language and religion and the MPs they have elected.

Such a message should rightly be received positively by the people in general. How is it that the LUPs in the two constituencies have ended like this? All the comments I have heard are like people being incensed, angry, unfair, highhandedness, no respect for the people's choice and many undescribable words that cannot be posted here.

It is as good as a good PR exercise turning sour. It is like winning a battle and losing a war. It is better not to have the LUP instead. I think this LUP is going the cost the govt more votes in the next general election rather than to turn the tide against the two opposition candidates.

Of course some of your may totally disagree with my observations and claim that the govt has scored big by bringing the LUPs into the constituencies, and the two rejected candidates in the last election, now the govt's appointed advisers in the constituencies, will now stand a better chance to be elected for their great effort and role in the LUPs.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

A serious proposition by a blogger

Below are some recommendations by Gerald Giam on how to solve the high prices of housing. The full post is at his blog http://geraldgiam.sg. It shows that bloggers can put up serious articles that are as good as those in the paid media or papers submitted in Parliament. Here it is.

I have a few suggestions on how we can lower the cost of public housing for Singaporeans, without causing asset destruction or panic selling.


Sell new flats at cost-plus pricing

The first thing HDB should do is to reduce the price of its new flats.

HDB maintains that flats remain “affordable” and that it still provides a “market subsidy” for buyers. The market subsidy simply means that new HDB flats are priced lower than existing resale properties in the same area. It is not based on the cost of construction and land.

Mr Leong Sze Hian from The Online Citizen has calculated that HDB could be making a profit of over $170,000 per flatin the new Punggol development. Mr See Leong Kit, in a letter published in TODAY, also arrived at a similar estimate of $140,000 profit per unit for the Pinnacle@Duxton development.

For a start, in the spirit transparency, HDB should disclose the profits it makes from each project ─ by showing how much exactly it cost them to build the flats alongside the prices that they are being sold for.

HDB is a government agency. It should not behave like a profit-maximising corporation. There is no reason why new HDB flats cannot be priced at cost plus ─ no more than 5% above the cost price of building the flat and acquiring the land.

Reducing the price of new flats will immediately make it more affordable for many more lower- and middle-income couples who do not have the savings to pay over $300,000 for a new flat. It would also have a knock on effect of slowly lowering the price of resale flats, which would also benefit home buyers.

Perhaps HDB is concerned that these homeowners will sell their flat 5 years later for an obscene profit in the open market. To prevent this from happening, HDB could require that the flats cannot be sold for more than 10% above the cost price (adjusted for inflation) for the first 10 years. This will prevent home owners from profiting excessively after receiving the government subsidy.

Another way of reducing costs is to build flats without all the frills. In recent years, HDB seems to have taken on the mindset of a private developer, coming up with ways on how to meet the apparent demand from yuppie Singaporeans for condo-style living.

This is treading down the wrong path. HDB flats should remain no-frills public housing. There is no need to provide posh condo lookalikes and price them like private apartments. Those who want a more high-class living environment should consider buying private properties.


Build more new flats

During a parliamentary debate in September, opposition leader Low Thia Khiang questioned whether HDB is under-building flats to meet the demand of flat buyers. Mr Mah Bow Tan dismissed it, saying simply that there was “no basis to say HDB is under-building”.

He fanned out statistics that showed that the HDB built 2,400 flats in 2007, 8,000 in 2008 and another 8,000 this year.

As always, government statistics don’t tell the full story.

Just last week, the Sale of Balanced Flats launched by HDB received over 20,691 applications for only 2,132 available flats ─ almost 10 times oversubscribed. The recent Punggol Residences Built-to-Order five-room flats released in August were also 10 times oversubscribed, with 1,587 balloters for just 154 units.

The PAP government has dismissed these clear indications that there is a shortage of flats by suggesting that most of those people who applied were just trying their luck and not really interested in buying a place to stay. This is an insult to the thousands of home buyers who have tried numerous times but failed to find a flat that fits their basic requirements.

It is likely that the main reason why the HDB does not want to build more new flats is because it will lower the overall price of even the resale market, which may be politically troublesome for them.

The HDB needs to examine whether it’s mandate is to provide affordable housing for Singaporeans, or feed voters with unsustainable promises of constantly increasing home asset prices.

PRs increasing flat demand

Part of the reason for the high prices of resale flats is the large influx of foreigners who take up permanent residency, thus making them eligible to buy HDB flats in the open market. A recent ERA report revealed that 40% of resale flat buyers are permanent residents (PR). This is a phenomenal proportion, considering that HDB flats were built to house Singaporeans, not foreigners.

It’s questionable whether all of these PRs intend to sink their roots in Singapore or whether they see Singapore as a stepping stone to better opportunities in the US, or Australia, or back in China when conditions there improve.

I welcome foreigners to come to Singapore, to contribute to our economy and add to our social diversity. Many of my friends and colleagues are foreigners, and I have seen the benefits many of them have brought to Singapore.

However, I am strongly opposed to the government’s policy of allowing in so many foreigners in such a short amount of time, as this has put a severe strain on the housing market, the public transport system and the job situation.

The immigration policy is so liberal that within weeks of arriving in Singapore, a foreigner with the right qualifications can apply for PR and get it approved within three months. Without having contributed even a year to Singapore, these PRs are eligible to buy public housing and benefit from a system which Singaporeans have spent a lifetime building up.

Impose waiting period for PRs to buy flats

To rectify this, I propose that all PRs must have lived and worked continuously in Singapore for at least three years before they are allowed to buy HDB flats. This would filter out all those PRs who have shown little commitment to our country and are just taking up residence in order to be able to buy a subsidised flat, save on rental and sell it a few years later for a huge profit.

Lest this proposal causes alarm to skilled workers who are considering applying for PR, I would point out that under this proposed policy, HDB should look at the entire duration that the PR has been in Singapore, not just the period since he got his blue NRIC. Skilled foreigners who have demonstrated a commitment to making Singapore their home should have no worries about this new policy disadvantaging them.

Conclusion

I have laid out in this article just a few suggestions on reining in unaffordable public housing costs for home buyers. It is a work-in-progress and by no means comprehensive. I hope that policy makers will consider some of these suggestions for the sake of the thousands of Singaporean home buyers ─ including future home buyers ─ who are just seeking for a decent roof over their head.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Is there something missing?

The great dialogue on law has been going on for a few days. Singapore's top officials have been defending our great records in building a prosperous nation for 3.2m citizens and 1.2m foreigners. Our stand was to defend what we have built and done, to an 'audience of mainly American lawyers'.

We have a very safe city, no slums, no 'no go' areas. People are rich, well fed, well housed, well educated and well travelled. We live harmoniously in a multi racial society without deep divides or strong hatred among the various races and religious mix. What else can one ask for?

And the cake is that foreigners are flooding into a city seeking jobs and a better life. They are pouring their wealth into the city state. These are the testaments of a great city to live in.

Why are there so many negative remarks and perceptions about this little paradise? Strict laws, executive interference, ISA, a people that is fearful of speaking up, etc, etc, were frequently hurled against the city state as if they are real? Are they, or just somebody's imagination?

Or is there something missing that were not seen, heard or spoken about? What is it that creates this air of uncertainty and disquiet?
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

First victim of the tough Buy In Rulings

The outrageous penalties that could be imposed for innocent mistake or oversight in trading by remisiers or traders has claimed its first victim. I was told that an elderly remisier of a broking house suffered an instant heart attack the moment he knew it. He shouted, 'Ah, oversold!' flipped and collapsed immediately, and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance.

The penalties which can come to $5000 for each day the shares are not bought back and will keep mounting is creating fear among remisiers and small investors. The mistake can be a few dollars or few hundred dollars, but the penalty, technically, is unlimited.

But the tough rules are necessary to make sure that such mistakes do not occur too often as it is sometimes very difficult and troublesome to buy back the shares during Buy In process.

We are entering a world of zero mistakes. The dilemma is that mistakes will always be made for one reason or another. And when hundreds or thousands of trades are done daily, there are bound to be mistakes made by the mortals. Mind you, these mortals are not immortals or demigods that are not prone to make mistakes.

This is Uniquely Singapore.

May god be merciful to the lesser beings.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Ethical practices and ethical leadership are the hope of the future

I read with astonishment that a veteran American investor commented that the finance industry is run by crooks. On hindsight I think he is absolutely right. Look at the mess and the trillions of dollars lost during the subprime loan and financial crisis and how these turkeys are trying to reward themselves with billions without a thought of the losses that they had caused. Then who is there to rein them in to return to ethical practices? Obama is trying but there are few ethical men around to save America and the world.

The only few remnants of ethical men and women can only be found in paradise. In paradise, we have raised the bar for ethics to a level that no country could match. Everyone of our leaders is man or woman of high integrity and ethics. Ethics and moral goodness are our hallmarks for a better tomorrow. They are selected and put in places of authority and responsibility because of such virtues.

Recently there were doubts raised that two popular internet news providers, The Online Citizen and Temasek Review, were attacked. Some were pointing fingers in the direction of gods and demigods. The two sites have suffered intermittent attacks more frequently and visitors were thus inconvenienced to read their postings. Some were saying that this is a prelude to things to come when the general election is held. They are testing their systems and abilities to block these anti govt sites and very likely they will be totally inaccessible when that day comes.

I think this fear and assumption are unfounded. When we place ethics on the high pedestal of moral authority, certainly we will live be it through words and actions. It is unbecoming to even presume that our leaders who are men and women of high integrity to resort to such lowly acts. The attackers of these sites must be from people of low morality and ethical standards, maybe from some foreign sources.

We must have faith that we have honourable men and women who put ethics above all things else and would not dishonour themselves and the country.

The article is copied from Asian Correspondent.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

A familiar Gulf story

Expat workers threaten Gulf existence
Feb 03, 2010
DUBAI - An influx of foreign workers in the Gulf poses a threat to the region's existence, UAE daily Gulf News reported on Wednesday, citing Bahrain's Labour Minister Majeed al-Alawi.

The minister said the situation could become like Singapore and the Maldives, where "foreign workers had been brought on temporary contracts and are now ruling these countries," according to the report.

Speaking at a labour conference in Abu Dhabi, Alawi said one million citizens in the wealthy Gulf are unemployed even though the region employs 17 million foreign workers, describing them as "a threat to our existence", Gulf News reported.

Alawi pointed out that while 50 percent of projects in the Gulf have have come to a halt due to the impact of the global recession, the number of foreign workers has not declined.

"Whoever thinks this foreign manpower in the region comes for a project and leaves on its completion is wrong. They come to stay. They buy and sell in their market created on our lands but accommodate no Arab," he said." he was quoted as saying.

Alawi added: "This way countries were lost and we, in the Gulf, are facing the same threat. If this is not happening now, it will happen in the next generation."

Officials in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have for years expressed concerns over the presence of millions of expat workers who are needed to run their economies.
Still these countries continue to hire skilled and unskilled people from abroad to do jobs their citizens either cannot do or do not want to do.


Maktoob Business .
Maktoob

The Gulf states fear that they will lose their countries to foreigners. In the Singapore experience, we consider ourselves as immigrants. And immigrants given citizenship becomes Singaporeans. So new immigrant citizens will take over and own this island when old immigrant citizens die or fade away. This is the natural state of affair. We don't have problems with that. We welcome new immigrants to become our citizens and take over from where the old immigrant citizens left off. And we will have a more vibrant city state still populated by Singaporeans. And old Singaporeans that cannot live up to the challenge, they just have to be sidelined. It is their problem.

The difference in mindset between Singapore and the Gulf states is that we place the existence of the state above the existence of the people. The people can come and go, can die and disappear, the state lives forever. We live for the state.

The article is copied from Asian Correspondent.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

From temasek review:

28 year old Singapore teacher burdened by hefty mortgage loan for HDB flat before marriage

March 24, 2010 by admin

Dear TR,
Thanks for publishing the article by Ms Judy Eng. (read article here) It really strikes a chord in my heart as I am in the same situation as her too. I am 28 this year now working as a teacher in a secondary school.

My fiancee just found a job in a GLC as an engineer after six months of looking for one. The pay isn’t fantastic as there is an abundance of foreign engineers in Singapore. He considered himself lucky to finally secure a full-time job after months of being on contract.
We are planning to get married in July and just bought a 4-room resale flat at Sin Ming. Guess how much it costs? You won’t believe it, we bought it at almost $500,000. No kidding, it’s true! All the flats in the vicinity cost above $500K. After paying about $30,000 in COV partially paid for by our parents, we do not have a single cent left for our wedding which we will have a simple afternoon tea buffet at our church instead of the traditional 8-course Chinese dinner.

I am really worried about our future. We earn barely $5,000 together and the mortgage loan already took up 30 percent of our income. We still have to cough out some cash after using up the entire CPFs. The moment I think of this, I lost all the mood already.

People used to say that marriage is the happiest moment in a girl’s life, but I am not looking forward to it. I feel very heavy, like a burden placeed on my chest, sometimes choking me, it is so suffocating. Can we buy a new flat? I do not wish to wait for another 3 to 4 years, anything can happen to our relationship during this period of time. It is a risk I cannot afford to take.

My hubby-to-be is burnt out everyday from work – OT, OT and OT and he is not paid for it. For me, my weekends are either burnt in school CCAs or marking the homeworks of my students. We hardly meet each other at all, sometimes just enough time to have a meal or catch a movie. Somehow I feel apprehensive startinig life together with another person, am I ready for it? I don’t think we can start a family, at least for the next three years or so. How to have children when we are not financially stable?

I will pay the loan mostly on my own as my hubby still have to pay for his student loan and car loan. I have only a few thousand dollars in my savings now and I wonder how long they can last me. What happens when there is an emergency? Or if we are retrenched? I dread to think of the worst…but women being women, they always think alot.
Every month, my pay gets used up almost immediately after it’s deposited into my POSB account – living expenses, allowances for parents, and now with housing loan, I really don’t know how far we can continue like this.

Did we do our Maths before we make the purchase? Yes, but what can we do, the flats are expensive everywhere and we want to stay near our parents. Even 4-room flats in Jurong are calling above $400,000 nowadays! The prices are really going crazy, the agents told us that they will only go up in the future as the govt will never allow them to come down.

Sorry for the ramblings. There are so many things on my mind now, I can’t think or type clearly…..Thanks for providing me an outlet to vent my frustrations, who can understand what we are going through? Sigh, maybe I am one of those few unlucky souls.
Please edit and publish this rant of mine as you see fit. Thanks again for listening.

Melissa Quek

This is what we are doing to our young. All mercy, compassion and caring. Really? I see it more as being ruthless, uncaring and simply irresponsible. And this type of letters will not change the govt's policy on housing. They will see it as pressurising them to act and they would not be seen to be pressured to do anything. Redbean
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Punching above our weight

We punch above our weight in the international arena. We speak louder and carry more weight than countries of bigger sizes. Now we are faced with a third rate European country called Romania whose Charge Affair knocked down and killed a pedestrain and hurting a couple of others and ran away. Can we bring justice to the culprit?

The culprit has been found guilty. But he had feigned illness and hiding in his home country and questioning our legal justice system, even claiming that he is being framed. And the Ambassador is resorting to telling us how difficult it is to bring him here. And he is covered by diplomatic immunity. In short, there is nothing we can do about it.b Diplomats are above the law!

Let's see if we can punch above our weight and bring this rogue to pay for his misdeeds. How about breaking diplomatic relations with Romania? We don't really need them. Send them home packing.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Yes, we got the message!

Haven’t you Singaporeans got the message? What message? Alright let me tell you all in plain simple Singlish,’No Govt cannot do.’ Yes, all the so called privatization for efficiency, competition for the good of consumers, are plain bullshit. Singapore needs the Govt to run all the major services, from hospitals to telecommunications, to transport, childcare and burial services.

If you need further proof of how important and effective the govt is in providing fair and affordable services, without being held at ransom, just look at the recent World Cup fiasco will do. If the telcos were one, if own by the Govt, we would not have to pay through our noses, paying more than anyone else, and Fifa standing there, high and haughty, telling us take it or leave it.

Let’s petition the Govt to take back all the organizations and services that have been privatized. We need the Govt to run this place efficiently and cheaply. Unless you think the hospital fees are cheap, public transport are cheap, watching football is cheap…HDB is also privatized and you know the story. Just claiming that it is affordable does not mean so. Take back HDB and return it as a statutory board. The HDB of the past was a pride of Singaporeans, providing the people with cheap and good housing. Singaporeans are forever grateful to the HDB when it was a statutory board.

Need more reasons why we cannot do without the Govt running this place? Need more reasons why privatization is bad, why competition is bad?
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

I support Shanmugam and the Govt's position

I have no issue with Shanmugam and the Govt's tough stand on the death penalty for drug trafficking and kidnapping. Everyone coming into Singapore must know that death is what they get if they play with drugs and kidnapping. The other crime that demands a death sentence is terrorism. The terrorists, the drug traffickers, the kidnappers, are not nice people playing with toys and water pistols. They are out to destroy lives.

I can understand the little softness in a human bean to want to be kind. But make sure kindness is given to the right people. People who show kindness to the evil and wicked, the killers, including drug traffickers, are evil without knowing it. They think they are kind and all goodness without knowing that their kindness is going to cause more evil and more suffering.

There must be zero tolerance for such crimes here. Period. Let the whole world knows that this is what we will do to such crimes and let those who know and still want to dabble with it here know, without a single doubt, that death will follow. Only then will this island be freed from such crimes, or at least minimal occurrence.

The criminals who chose to commit such criminal acts came with their eyes open. They knew what they are in for. They chose to play with fire and they must know that they will be burnt by fire.

PS. Any compromise or softness on this tough stand will only encourage more criminals to try their luck here. The people who are fighting for the cause of such criminals are encouraging more to come. They are in a way accomplices, advocates of such criminal acts.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.

[redbean]

Death penalty saves lives

When I posted my view on the death penalty I expect many people to disagree with me. Fair. There is a very nice young man waiting in the gallows and many are pleading that his life be spared. I too would want to plead for him as well. We are after all human beans and do understand what is compassion and what it means to take the life of someone and how their loved ones feeling the grief and pain.

Am I that ruthless and wicked? Sometimes the saints are more deadly and wicked. And in this instance this is exactly so. Saving one life may lead to more adventurers taking their chances here and destroying more innocent lives by exposing them to the destructive nature of drug addiction.

As AuntieLucia has said, we must think of the judges' position as well. It is not an easy job to put the hangman's noose on anyone. They too are human beans. The death penalty is not put up to kill. It is put up to protect our citizens. Yes, if our loved ones got into such a fix we will have to talk softly and not take such a tough stand. This is called vested interest or having a stake in the issue. But when one is a disinterested party and looking at it objectively, which is a better alternative?

I still stand to support the death penalty. As for people being fixed up, let the court find out the truth. So far death penalty is given only to those that are found guilty without an element of doubt. That is the job of the court.

What I would want the govt to do is to use a loud hailer and tell the whole world, without fear nor apologies, that drug trafficking means sure death in paradise. Make it absolutely loud and clear to make sure that no one can miss this message. And the airlines be made to made an announcement about the death sentence before touching down at Changi. And this can be followed by an advisory for those carriers or traffickers to dump their drugs into the toilet bowl before exiting the aircraft if they do not want to be hanged. Let that be their last chance.

The same procedure can be applied in all the check points. Let the whole world knows that we mean business. I think this will be a kinder thing to do. The death penalty will end up hanging no one. But once we get soft, we may end up hanging many more and seeing many of our citizens destroyed or harmed.

Our message is simple. No drugs.
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what i posted is just my personal view. feel free to disagree.