I am against MANDATORY sentences in whatever criminal law as it robs the very much needed discretion from the judge in carrying out his duty.
Justice must be made from the balance between cold logic and human circumstantial considerations. It would be very de-humanizing if everything just goes by the book and rule without any inputs of human feelings. There will be no contradictions here if the change is made at the way we create our law.
Goh Meng Seng
Hah, I never thought a practical law-abiding Singaporean would never support capital punishment - whether mandatory or on the discretion of the judges. Much less from a would-be MP.
Humanizing? What a joke! If drug traffickers are "humanising", then murderers and armed robbers must be angels! Ask around and 99.9% would agree that such harsh punishment is necessary to be fair and just - because by and large Singaporeans are very law-abiding citizens.
In a country where one out of 5 is a non-citizen, and where "tourists" or visitors almost outnumber Singaporeans 3 to 1 (11 million visitors a year), Singapore must have strong laws. For the Singaporeans, obeying the laws is not an issue -whether not to cut queue waiting for taxi or buying 4-D, smoke in crowded places, eat chewing gums or throwing litter.
You get a citizen or a non-citizen defacing the MRT train or throwing red paint on someone's door, you get the rotan on your backside in return - no question about it. Everyone supports it - may be except Goh Meng Seng.
The main reason why Singapore is such a safe place is basically because of strict laws and enforcement. Remember the police slogan :
Low crime does not mean no crime.
It's more reasonable to talk about increases in kindergarten school fees, rise in prices of essential goods, transport fare hikes, increases in water and electricity charges, loss of jobs to foreigners, increase in GST or ERP, high salary of ministers, etc - Goh MS or any opposition candidate may get a fighting chance.
If Goh Meng Seng is standing election on this "de-humanising" capital punishment platform, he can kiss his political ambition goodbye.