I was shocked when I was told that a professor (Chan Kap Luk) was stabbed in NTU by a Indonesian Chinese student, and the perpetrator himself has jumped to his death on Monday, 2 March 2009. I would have considered the matter to be water under the bridge by now until I chanced upon these rumors.

There’s really nothing much to talk about these rumors but it reminds me that when the perpetrator is a foreigner, rarely is his community sympathetic to the real victim of the case. Very often, his community will some how find the ‘reasons’ to portray him as a victim. In the particular incident in NTU – he is now a victim of conspiracy and coverup. How intriguing!

I will not go into the details of these rumors nor will I bother to refute hearsay passed on by simpletons who are usually simply too lazy to verify what they have been told. But let us look at some other cases involving foreign nationals, in which there were more sympathy – in my opinion without any reasoning or evidence – for the perpetrator charged with the crime.

We first look at the case of Michael Fay, who was caned by Singapore for theft and vandalism. The matter had massive media coverage, and in most cases, the public opinion was against Singapore. Then President Bill “I did not have sex with Monica Lewinsky” Clinton called the punishment prescribed by Singapore as extreme and mistaken, and the U.S. Embassy even tried to argue that the punishment does not fit the crime as vandalised cars can be repaired while emotional and physical scars from the caning can never be removed.

So, instead of being guilty of vandalism, Michael Fay now becomes a victim of excessive punishment. Neat, isn’t it? Fortunately for us, Michael Fay went home and vindicated the verdict of our courts with his own actions.

Next, we look at the case of Flor Contemplacion. For those who are unfamiliar with the case (and I suspect that means much of the blogging community who are probably still children when this case happened), you may refer to the Wikipedia article here.

1995 was the year when I first got my SingNet dialup account. I recalled the heated arguments in the newsgroup soc.culture.singapore on USENET. If I am not wrong, there was strong resentment among the Filipino community pertaining to this case. Relations between Singapore and the Philippines was strained and a C130 Hercules of the Philippines Air Force flew into Singapore to pick up any Filipinos who chose to leave.

What was most interesting was that two Filipino witnesses claimed that the father of the murdered child, Nicholas Huang, framed Contemplacion. Thus, Flor Contemplacion became a victim of wrong judgement under the harsh and inhuman laws of the Singapore, if not an exemplary heroine who fought against the abusive and exploitative working conditions that many Filipino domestic workers and laborers suffered abroad. Unfortunately for us, it will never be proven to satisfaction for those who disagree with the verdict of the court that Flor Contemplacion is guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

Finally, we look at the case of Caleb Nguyen Van Tuong, an ethnic Vietnamese from Melbourne, Australia. Nguyen confessed to have in his possession 396.2g of heroin when he was caught in transit at Changi Airport on 10 December 2002. Since anything more than a mere 15g would mandate a death sentence under Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act, the Singaporean High Court sentenced Nguyen to death for this crime on 20 March 2004.

As the day of his execution draws near, it triggered a massive response from Australia and there was intensive media coverage. The Australian government, Amnesty International, the Holy See, as well as other individuals and groups all pleaded for clemency on his behalf.

And what was the general impression of Singapore? Singapore is called the ‘Death Capital’ of the world, where we are accused to have executed even more people when compared to *gasp* the People’s Republic of China! Caleb Nguyen becomes a victim of a country not only with the laws of the Dark Ages, but incapable of pardon and forgiveness. It doesn’t matter how many lives that 396.2g of heroine will ruin if he was never caught!

I am thinking, if I commit a capital offense in a country with death sentence, and I am proven guilty and sentenced to death, few Singaporeans except my parents and some of my closest friends would have shed tears, much less make a big fuss of the issue. In fact, I would probably have been condemned as vehemently by my fellow Singaporeans, just like the poor guy sleeping on the priority seat of an MRT with his photo taken and posted on STOMP.

Here’s the best part… why aren’t the jokers making all the noise keeping it up for my fellow Singaporeans sentenced likewise?

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