07 December 2005

Drug Dealer Nguyen Tuong Van Deserved To Be Hanged



(Below article is my opionion)
This Man Deserved To Be Hanged For Drug Smuggling.

Nguyen Tuong Van was hanged at 6:00am Singapore time on Friday 2 December 2005. Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, an Australian citizen was caught at Singapore airport in 2002. He was en route to Australia from Phnom Penh, Cambodia through the connection flight at Singapore. Nguyen was smuggling pure grade of heroin. One portion was hidden strapped to his chest and another was in his carry-on luggage. There was total of 396 grams of heroin he was smuggling.

Drugs and drug dealer have no place in society. This man was lazy, had no respect of the law by trying to get rich quick and took the chance. The street value of this heroin was worth aproximately $1.3 million ($50 x 26000) and able to destroyed 26,000 lives.

When it comes to drug, JUST DON'T DO IT. I fully support and respect the law of each country. You break the law, the consequence you must pay for. Drug dealer Nguyen Tuoung Van knew the consequences of breaking the Singaporean law. He took his chance with death. He lost.

8 comments:

Dave said...

Socially, exaggeration is often whimsical. But when a government dramatically inflates numbers to help justify a death sentence, the integrity of both the trial and its governing body becomes questionable. In this case, the government is Singapore, the trial was for Van Tuong Nguyen, and the bloated number is 26,000.

Press from around the world quotes Abdullah Tarmugi, the Speaker of Singapore Parliament, in writing about the potential consequences of Van's actions, "almost 400 grams of pure heroin, enough for more than 26,000 doses."

But how was 26,000 doses (or "hits") derived?

It turns out that what constitutes a hit of heroin is not an easy thing to count. There are dozens of factors to consider; contact your local Needle Exchange for a comprehensive list. However, after collecting statistics from over a dozen sources (including police reports, narcotics web sites, health information, and workers from needle exchanges), the number of hits from a gram of pure heroin averages out to little more than 14.

Van Tuong Nguyen trafficked 396.2 grams of heroin into Singapore. This is approximately 5,600 doses.

The numbers 5,600 and 26,000 are obviously incongruous, as are reports that 400 grams of heroin would "ruin 26,000 lives". In fact, 400 grams of heroin would not come close to ruining even 5,600 lives. Rather, the heroin would most likely supply people already abusing it. With a little more research, we can estimate how many lives would be adversely affected by 400 grams of heroin during one year:

As many as 67, and as few as 6.

Van Tuong Nguyen would not have sent 26,000 people to their deaths from 400 grams of heroin. Nor would the lives of 26,000 people have been ruined. Far more likely is that six people would get a year's worth of hits. And for this he was executed?

Call it dreadful, call it dense, call it incomprehensible ... but do not call it justice.

Blog By Khmer said...

Thanks for your lenghty reply which does not sway me a bit on where I stand. My point is drug traficker Nguyen Van Tuong broke the law. Even if he doesn't know, like there's a saying "ignorance of the law is no excuse".

Dave said...

I'm not looking to sway anyone.

I'm merely looking to point out the truth. A man was murdered by a government for a crime that may have adversely affected the lives of as few as six people.

Capital punishment must be abolished so this blatent injustice to humanity does not continue.

Anonymous said...

So what are you saying? Let's put all the drug traffickers into jail and let them stay inside merrily for a couple of months, years to see if they change. If they don't, then that's too bad. After all, human rights is a very important thing. Even drug traffickers deserve some rights.

Yeah, right.

Did you not consider the fact that, if we crack down hard on traffickers, the supply available to existing addicts will dwindle and increase in cost. And those addicts unable to pay the expensive bill of maintaining their addiction will perhaps give themselves in for cold turkey. And those looking to try drugs will not find it so readily available. They would have to search deep in the underground market to find it, since there is not a large supply of it. And the huge cost of buying it will put them off taking the drug too.

So although hanging Nyugen might not be the best thing to do, it is neccessary to set an example for others.

Also, the effects of hanging traffickers will indirectly help improve the situation of existing addicts and potential addicts for the better. And don't try giving the excuse of Nyugen being a small minion, and that we should target the boss. It's not that easy to find the boss. IF so, we'd already cured the world of drugs. And we can't just let the minions scurry freely in broad daylight, can we? No. The hanging must be done. It is justifiable, though questionable. I personally don't agree with it. But it's the only way to do it. We can't be soft on one. Soon, the entire world will be clamouring for clemency if so.

HappySam said...

think I agree though not sure, I am annoyed that his case is only highlighted coz he holds an ozzy passport,,
I have a selfish request, would you possibly send me a hit on my site in khmer I have developed an unhealthy obsession with my language stats on my cqcounter at the bottom of my page and am yet to recive a hit in khmer,
so have been visiting every cambodian related blog in the world hopping to get a hit. If you would like a link to your site on my blog in return, just leave me a message and I would be happy to oblige
regards

Dave said...

I am saying that murdering someone after they made their first mistake is a far more terrible crime than drug trafficking.

I am saying that instead of punishing the drug traffickers, punish the drug lords. But oops! I guess that would mean ending the money laundering between Singapore and Burma. If Singapore was really serious about preventing crimes, it would stop feeding money into countries that produce drugs. I'd suggest you bring this up with your government officials, but they'd probably hang you. And it'd still be wrong for them to do it.

Human rights are very important. And yes, even drug traffickers have the right to life. Nobody on this planet has the right to play God. To say otherwise is to lend yourself to hypocrisy. To say "thou shalt not kill" in one breath and "our government may kill" in the next is a serious setback to both compassion and justice.

By the way, stating something as a fact and only presenting one imaginary example of the possible outcomes is both short-sighted and a logical fallacy. I'll give you another few scenarios and you tell me which one is possible.

1. The government cracks down on traffickers and, momentarily, the supply of drugs dwindles. The drug lords, seeing that their traffickers are being slaughtered through Singapore wise up and send them elsewhere. Thus the problem is still there, it just happens to be in somebody else's backyard. But you'd be okay with that, right? I mean, as long as someone else had to deal with drug issues?

2. Same situation. This time, the drug lords simply increase the number of traffickers. Instead of catching one out of every five, Singapore now catches three out of every ten. The net effect is that the trafficking INCREASES through Singapore. Oops!

3. Same situation. Drug flow to Singapore slows, and addicts don't have the cash to cough up for more drugs. Instead of going "cold turkey", they need their fix and instead entertain more looting, theft, prostitution, and robbery. The net effect? The crime rate INCREASES in Singapore and the quality of life for EVERYONE comes down.

Of course, you'll probably just stick to the fairytale that government propaganda has fed to you throughout your lifetime. Hell, I'm sure you'll continue to believe that from one gram of heroin you can actually get sixty-five doses. But the RCMP (Canada's National Police Force) told me that, from their research, one gram of heroin is equal to five "points". A point of heroin is 1/5th of a gram, not 1/65th as the Singapore government exaggerated.

Again, suggesting that hanging someone is the "only way" to set an example is also fallacious. There are many ways to set examples for people. One of the purest is by leading the examples yourself. If you want people to behave, show them how to behave. If you want people to do drugs, start doing drugs yourself. If you want people to kill, start killing. If you want people to laugh, tell jokes and laugh with them. If you want to deter people from trafficking drugs, then toss them in the slammer and throw away the key. But killing them is not necessary to "set an example".

I never said that removing the drug lords from power would be easy. I did, however, heavily imply that going to the source of the drug productions would be a much more worthwhile effort than picking on a minor drug mule.

Also, please do not speak words for me. I never once suggested that Van be set free. I never once suggested that he not be punished, and punished appropriately. Never once did I declare that the vile drug traffickers should be allowed to scurry about like the cockroaches they so emulate. Being "soft" does not mean "no alternative to execution"; Hell, if I had the choice between being executed or living my life in Singapore (er, I mean, Changi jail), I'd take execution. (That was a joke, by the way.)

The idea is that living the rest of your life inside a jail is not life. It's an unending death, a place where you get to think about how you wronged society. To think, ponder, and berate yourself over and over. Yup. That, to me, is justice.

Dave

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Anonymous said...

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Thanks,
Stefan
http://cambodia.mellenthin.de/