THE EDITOR, Sir:
I carry no brief for the present national security minister, but I was extremely bemused to hear, during Tuesday night’s evening news package, the Opposition Spokesman on National Security, Delroy Chuck, cite the low murder rate in Singapore. In addition, I am equally bemused to hear many eminent persons compare the economic success of Singapore with Jamaica’s lack of same.
In the first instance, Mr Chuck conveniently did not go on to state that ‘Capital punishment is legal in Singapore. The city-state had the second highest per capita execution rate in the world between 1994 and 1999, estimated by the United Nations to be 1.383 executions annually per hundred thousand of population during that period.’ (Wikipedia).
When people make the economic comparison, they also conveniently omit to state that Singapore’s political history has been shaped by an autocratic or authoritarian leadership style, where progressive, economic and developmental policies are not debated to death.
As far as I know, capital punishment is legal in both Jamaica and Singapore. The difference is that Singapore implements and Jamaica laments.
Wilbert Tomlinson
Singapore, Jamaica, and capital punishment
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