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November 04, 2005
National Pride
A recent article in The Australian newspaper revealed the identity of Singapore's official executioner, 73-year-old Darshan Singh, who has conducted virtually every single hanging in Singapore for the past 46 years. He's hung over 850 men and women, and is credited with being the only executioner in the world to single-handedly hang 18 men in one day -- "three at a time", all for murder, in 1963. But he's not just built for endurance- no! When it's necessary, he can turn on the speed, too! Just a few years later, he hung 7 men within 90 minutes, also for murder. When you think about it, he's the top man in the world for both endurance capital punishment and for speed capital punishment. This, combined with the recent United Nations Secretary-General's quinquennial report on capital punishment, which indicates that the highest per capita use of the death penalty is in Singapore, with a rate of 13.57 executions per one million population for the period of 1994 to 1999, means that once again: We're #1!! Woo-hoo!! Majulah Singapura!!!!Something for every Singaporean to be extremely proud of. Posted by pj at 03:01 PM
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Great. We’re the capital punishment capital of the world. Majulah Singapura indeed. PJ - you’re hilarious!
AZ Chick spoke on November 4, 2005 04:31 PMErrr, congratulations. I am happy for you. Mind you if Texas was aloud to compete on its own I bet you'd lose your crown!
Steph spoke on November 5, 2005 03:42 PMwooohooo! we should have a subject in school to teach us execution. like that sure will always be number 1. then must have examination also.
oinkypig spoke on November 6, 2005 12:16 PMDon't forget the ten year series!
PJ spoke on November 6, 2005 01:25 PMHmm, this is an interesting article but I'm not sure if this article is really true? Why would he want to reveal his identity now, especially if it has always been a "closely guarded secret"?
e-y spoke on November 7, 2005 07:17 AMHe didn't. Read the article carefully- it's based on an interview with an unnamed source which is close to him. Nothing comes from him directly. He's also bound by the Official Secrets Act.
PJ spoke on November 7, 2005 09:32 AMI read that article too. It just strengthened my opposition to the death penalty. The mandatory death penalty, in particular, is completely inhuman. On December 2nd, Singapore will execute an essentially good man. Nguyen Van Tuong carried the drugs, not because he was a hardened criminal, but because he was a filial son and a loyal brother, who was trying to help a family member out of trouble. In that sense, he was acting along the demands of old-fashioned, conservative, even Confucian values.
Some members of the cabinet are widely known to be Christians, and I do hope that they advised clemency for Nguyen. Otherwise, let God judge them as they judged, and be as merciful to them as they were merciful.
Holly Q spoke on November 20, 2005 04:48 AM