Letter: Singapore Defends Its Drug Policy

Singapore Wrestles With the Death Penalty

“Singapore has stubbornly maintained a hard-line policy on drugs that mandates the death penalty for even minor infractions,” Timothy McLaughlin wrote in April. The country resumed executions after a two-year hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic, McLaughlin reported, even amid an increase in public opinion against the mandatory death penalty.

This story was updated to reflect that Lui Tuck Yew and not Ashok Kumar Mirpuri is currently Singapore’s ambassador to the United States.

In “Singapore Wrestles With the Death Penalty,” Timothy McLaughlin seems to express more sympathy for drug traffickers than for the hundreds of thousands across the world who die or are debilitated each year because of drugs and their families who bear the consequences.

For example, he dismisses the quantity found in the possession of one drug trafficker as “four small packets.” That amount is equivalent to 4,320 straws of heroin, enough to feed the addiction of 600 drug abusers for a week.

The article claims there has been an “upsurge in public sentiment in Singapore against the mandatory death penalty.” But, as McLaughlin acknowledges, surveys have repeatedly confirmed strong support for the death penalty for very serious crimes, including drug trafficking. The leader of the opposition in Singapore also agrees with this policy.

Domestic objections to our policies on drugs and the death penalty come mainly from a few vocal activists. They are free to advocate for their cause within the law, and they do so loudly and persistently. But our electorate knows that a permissive attitude toward drugs is unwise and fears the devastation drugs have brought in other countries. The chairman of the biggest Dutch police union has called the Netherlands a “narco-state.” The Belgian justice minister is reported to be living in safe houses because of threats from narco-criminals. A year has been shaved off the average life expectancy of American men because of opioid abuse.

Singapore could easily suffer such outcomes, too, if we liberalized our drug-control regime. Other countries can decide on the approach that best suits them. Our approach has saved countless lives and made Singapore one of the safest places in the world. Parents of students, including those at the Singapore American School, know that their children are protected from the scourge of drugs and the streets are safe from the associated crime.

We stand ready to share our perspective with all who are open to exchanging views. In fact, we offered McLaughlin a briefing when he wrote to us with questions, but he did not take it up.

Lui Tuck Yew
Appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Singapore to the United States