editorial comment What a wonderful world!

John Aglionby in Singapore
Sunday May 8, 2005
The Observer

The Canton meeting room at Singapore's drab Furama Hotel is an unlikely venue for history to be made. But on Friday night this bland setting hosted an unprecedented event for the tightly controlled island republic.
Organisers of a three-hour vigil for Shanmugam Murugesu, who is likely to be executed on Friday for possession of 1 kilo of marijuana, said it was the nation's first public gathering organised solely by citizens demanding a change to the law.

'There's never been an event like this in Singapore,' said Sinapan Samydorai, the president of non-governmental organisation Think Centre.

Many of the participants in the vigil, which comprised artistic performances and speeches, said they were there for reasons beyond the immediate one of seeking to change the mandatory death penalty for people caught with at least 500g of marijuana or 2g of heroin.

'Tonight's not necessarily so much about changing the government's mind,' explained one actor. 'It's about telling ordinary people you can say no to the authorities. You can voice your opinions.'

That may be so, but M Ravi, Murugesu's lawyer, believes it has taken Murugesu's plight and the 'arbitrary, biased and discriminatory' flaws in Singapore's justice system it has exposed to mobilise public opinion for the first time since the government relaxed rules on public gatherings two years ago, encouraging Singaporeans to speak out.

Murugesu, 38, a former jet ski champion, military veteran and civil servant, was arrested in August 2003 after six packets containing a total of just over a kilo of cannabis were found in his bags when he returned home after a trip to Malaysia.

He admitted to knowing about one of the packets, containing 300g, but nothing about the others.

The admission, repeated expressions of regret and co-operation with the authorities proved futile for the divorced father of 14-year-old twin sons. He was sentenced to death despite his only previous conviction being a traffic offence. Murugesu had his appeal dismissed last October. He was given badge 859 when he entered death row.

It is not clear when this numbering system began or how many executions are held in Singapore. In a 2004 report, Amnesty International said that, since 1991, 400 people had been killed - all executions are by hanging on Friday mornings - giving the country of 4.2 million people the world's highest per capita execution rate.

In his clemency petition, Murugesu said: 'I was in desperate financial circumstances, which led me to commit the offence which I wholeheartedly regret. The financial burdens on me were heavy as I had to look after the my sons, my nieces, nephews and my mother ... who is in her seventies, is in poor health, unable to work.'

Murugesu's sons, Krishnan and Gopalan, distributed 900 leaflets on the street, urging people to petition the president to save their father. President SR Nathan rejected the petition last month.

Around 120 people braved Friday's vigil, but few were willing to be quoted. A woman who printed T-shirts saying 'Highest per capita execution rate in the world' and '400 men and women executed since 1991' admitted she had been terrified to do so.

The government clearly does not want the campaign gathering momentum. The partially state-owned local media ignored the vigil and the police shut down the open mike session just as the first person was getting into his stride .

'We'll be lucky to get anywhere in 10 or even 20 years,' said Samydorai. 'But at least Singaporeans are finally speaking out.'

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