It seems like the last legal avenue has been exhausted for Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, as the Singaporean Court of Appeal has rejected his final appeal.
His execution could take place in a matter of days. His last remaining hope and prayer is clemency from the president of Singapore.
I’ll summarise once again what I’ve written before regarding the background of this case:
“The story of Nagaenthran Dharmalingam begins in 2009 when he was working in Johor Bahru. His father was due to have a heart operation, so he sought to borrow RM500 from a man, ‘K’.
“K told him that he would loan Nagaenthran the money if he agreed to carry something into Singapore. When Nagaenthran refused, K assaulted him, and threatened to murder his girlfriend.
“Nagaenthran crossed the causeway with 42 grams (less than 3 tablespoons) of diamorphine, which was strapped to his thigh.
“He was apprehended by the Singaporean authorities, charged, found guilty and sentenced to death.
“During the course of his trial, his lawyers brought up the fact that Nagaenthran had an IQ of 69 - an uncontested fact emphasised by psychological experts during the trial. By international standards, this essentially defines Nagaenthran as having a mental disability.
“The Singaporean courts found him to have a ‘criminal mind’ that made a deliberate, purposeful decision.”
The world’s eyes on Singapore
Watching videos and reading accounts from Nagaenthran’s relatives and friends have been heartbreaking. It’s clear he doesn’t really understand what is happening to him.
The case has caught significant international attention.
Individuals who have spoken up on the matter and pleaded with Singapore include Tony Fernandes, Richard Branson, and Stephen Fry.
They all expressed shock that Singapore would take such an extreme measure, against such a disabled individual, for such a small amount of drugs.
Branson’s experience was especially worth noting. He is a key driver of the Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty organisation, which also features Meta (formerly Facebook) COO Sheryl Sandberg.
Branson said that the Singapore government wrote a long letter to him in response to his plea to save Nagaenthran’s life, trying to use various arguments to support their use of the death penalty.
Branson wasn’t convinced, but Singapore’s actions have laid them open to criticism that perhaps they care less about the views of the public, and only bother to engage when big business leaders like Branson say that these excessive punishments will affect their decisions on which countries to do business in.
Does Singapore really only think about the consequences of taking the life of an intellectually disabled person allegedly involved in a non-violent crime when their profit margins are threatened?
Even then, if that’s the only way to get them to change their minds, perhaps that is what campaigners should be focused on.
No kingpins punished, only mules
Everywhere else around the world, governments are taking more progressive and logical approaches to deal with the problems of drugs.
As has been pointed out repeatedly, given the current international climate and trends, such harsh measures against the lowest of drug mules stand in stark comparison to the total lack of arrests of any major drug kingpins and masterminds in the region.
We can only hope and pray for good sense and compassion to prevail on the part of the Singaporean authorities.
We can only hope and pray that Nagaenthran will be given a chance to lead a full life and make amends for whatever little harm he may have caused anyone.
We can only hope and pray that the Singaporean authorities will find it within themselves to see the bigger picture here, recognise how the decisions they make will define themselves globally, and give compassion the place it deserves in the administration of justice.
As a Malaysian pleading for the life of another Malaysian in Singapore, I am of course conscious of the fact that Malaysia too has the death penalty against drug offenders, and also has no legal protections for disabled people against the death penalty.
These matters should be remedied. The death penalty is in and of itself probably something that should be abolished completely.
It should certainly not be applied in cases of drug mules smuggling small amounts of drugs.
Malaysia too needs specific laws to protect the disabled in cases like these.
Pain and suffering
I think we can all agree that we don’t want parties importing vast amounts of addictive and harmful substances into Malaysia or Singapore, but we must be intelligent and strategic about how we solve this problem.
If we inflict the full force of wrath only on the poorest people in the game who are just as much the victims as anyone else, while letting all the big fish go free, then surely we are not living up to our moral obligations.
Indeed, we would be at risk of seeming in cahoots with rich drug dealers (who some would say authorities have more in common with), than the working poor who are being exploited all around.
All that politics, numbers, and statistics aside, we must remember that it is a human being’s life that is at stake, and the centre of this all.
Nagaenthran has a mother, a sister, and countless loved ones. His one death sentence has caused ripples of pain and suffering to spread out in so many directions.
Please, stop the cycle now, and show mercy. In the long run, the allies and goodwill earned will be a much more valuable resource in the war against drugs. - Mkini
NATHANIEL TAN works with Projek #BangsaMalaysia. Twitter: @NatAsasi, Email: nat@engage.my. #BangsaMalaysia #NextGenDemocracy.
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