14. Capital Punishment and the Culture of Developmentalism in Singapore

Capital Punishment in Singapore: A Critical Analysis of State Justifications From 2004 to 2018

“…The prioritisation of the 'collective good' (public and victim's rights), over individual (drug offender) human rights is not an exceptional feature of the state's penal order, but rather, a core component of Singapore's approach to governance. The government has sought to establish a communitarian-based understanding to rights and obligations since the early days of independence (Barr 2000;Oehlers & Tarulevicz 2005;Tan 2000). As empathetically argued by Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (1990), 'The basic difference in our approach springs from our traditional Asian value system, which places the interests of the community over and above that of the individual'.…”

“…All these repeated expressive notions allow the supposed 'effective deterrence' of capital punishment to be widely accepted by citizens (Reach 2016). Notwithstanding, the policy and practice of capital punishment has largely been a nonissue that has evoked little debate in the public arena (Oehlers and Tarulevicz 2005). Execution and the fundamental idea of capital punishment have remained largely unchallenged, apart from a few abolitionist advocates (see Conclusion).…”

“…Capital punishment was also not popularly perceived as a relevant subject of daily conversation. Oehlers and Tarulevicz (2005) assert that discussion only assumes significance when Western democracies criticise Singapore. The controversy and debate in this case stems from the outrage of being criticised internationally for a domestic criminal justice issue, 18 as opposed to the administration of capital punishment per se (Leong 2008;Oehlers and Tarulevicz 2005).…”