K Shanmugam on our drug laws

How can our laws change when it comes under pressure from a foreign country or government, right?

Our laws apply equally to everyone, regardless of whether you are a foreigner or Singaporean.

Minister Shanmugam said:

If we had a policy where we said that there will be no execution if a country campaigned, the policy won’t work, and the only people who would be executed would be Singaporeans. No country can apply its laws in that way. So, we make it absolutely clear to everyone that lobbying and pressure does not work with the Singapore Government. The law applies equally whether you are rich or poor, or whether you are a foreigner or local. The law applies, and that is the only way that it can work.

Activists against the death penalty love to use the argument that we are catching only the small fries and not the drug lords.

One thing is certain. Kingpins are deterred by the death penalty. Imagine the quantity of drugs that would be brought in if kingpins will come in themselves because of no threat?

The death penalty has reduced the quantities of drugs smuggled in because small fries do their calculations to ensure they do not exceed the amount that would kick in the death penalty. This act of calculation in itself, reduces the quantities of drugs smuggled in.

Some still choose to take the risk and exceed the amount. They will have to face the music with the same gut with which they made their deliberate choice to smuggle more drugs that destroy whole families.

Everyone is fixated on the death penalty. But no one takes about the violence and organised crimes brought about by the drug trade, the victims of the drug trade, or the millions who die from drug abuse each year, or the suffering of families of drug addicts.

If the EU has a better solution, Singapore will listen, says Minister Shanmugam.

Yup! That's right. Singapore decides on our own drug laws in the best interest of Singaporeans.

Recently, in a Facebook post, Minister Shanmugam said that there is a small group of anti-death penalty activists here who take foreign money to campaign against the death penalty. The minister didn't name them. Who could they be?

In many countries, popular culture has taken over scientific truths. Many now think little of the use of Cannabis, for example. The latest UN Drug Report 2021 says that cannabis potency in cannabis products has increased by 4 times making them riskier than ever. YET, the perception of young people is that cannabis is harmless. There is a big gap between perception and reality.

Hopefully, young people in Singapore are more sensible and not easily influence by popular culture.

In Singapore too, Wake Up Singapore campaigns fiercely against the death penalty, each time working overdrive to paint a drug trafficker due to hang as a victim, someone's honourable son etc. In various posts in the past, they had also promoted the use of drugs like Cannabis. This makes you wonder. Why do they do that? What will they do if there is no death penalty?