Pubdate: Sat, 26 Nov 2005
Source: BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright: 2005 BBC
Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Author: Andrew Harding, BBC Correspondent, Singapore

DEATH ROW CASE DIVIDES SINGAPORE

At dawn next Friday, a 73-year-old pensioner will put a rope around 
the neck of a 25-year-old man, and open a trapdoor.

For the older man, it is a routine which he has now performed more 
than 500 times.

I'm told he informs each condemned prisoner - in his final moments - 
that he's being sent to a better place.

Technically the hangman, Darshan Singh, has already retired from the 
prison service after a long and busy career.

But it turns out that his particular skills are in short supply and 
regular demand here.

Tiny Singapore - with its zero tolerance approach to drugs - has the 
highest execution rate, per capita, in the world. And so Mr Singh 
keeps getting called in.

No Clemency

His latest "assignment" is a Vietnamese-born Australian called Van 
Nguyen, a confessed heroin mule caught in transit at Singapore's airport.

A first-time offender, Van said he had been trying to pay off a debt 
owed by his brother.

The Australian government has asked, firmly but politely, for 
clemency. No deal.

The Australian media has demanded the same, rather less politely. 
There have been editorials urging economic sanctions, and pointed 
questions about the Singaporean government's hardline drugs policy.

Why execute the hapless couriers, but invest heavily in the repulsive 
regime of Burma, where so much of the world's opium is grown?

None of this seems likely to save Van's life.

In all likelihood, on Friday morning, Van's mother and twin brother 
will be invited to collect his coffin from the prison.

The hangman and the Australian journalists will go home. The 4.5bn 
trading partnership between Australia and Singapore will continue as 
before. And this peaceful, prosperous, strange little country will 
shrug off the whole incident.

End of story? Well, maybe not.

Winds Of Change

A few miles from the prison there is a giant conference centre called 
Suntec City.

Over the past few days it has been hosting something very 
un-Singaporean: a sex trade exhibition. Lingerie, electric toys, 
scantily clad models, and so on.

It is a bold step for a famously straight-laced country where 
homosexuality and oral sex are still illegal.

And it is a sign, some claim, that this authoritarian government is 
getting ready to embrace more fundamental changes, that the nanny 
state plans to turn into, shall we say, a chaperone state.

A western advertising executive summed it up for me recently at a 
party here. Basically, they want to re-brand Singapore, he said.

To keep the economy growing, they need a more dynamic, more creative 
workforce, and they have realised that the only way to do that is to 
give people more freedom.

But how much freedom?

It is hard to generalise, as the subject does not get much coverage 
in the state-controlled media, but my sense is that an awful lot of 
Singaporeans believe that killing Van is wrong.

It is one issue which really seems to have galvanised people.

What's more, they are starting to make their views heard. Not on the 
streets. Unlicensed outdoor protests involving more than four people 
are illegal here.

'Living In Fear'

But check out the internet and you will find a lively debate raging, 
complete with online petitions and blogs. Sometimes it goes a bit further.

"I'm a bit scared," said a young man called Jason, in a half-whisper. 
"Maybe I'm paranoid, but everyone here fears repercussions."

We were standing in a crowded hotel function room with about 100 
Singaporeans who had responded to an online invitation to a meeting 
in support of Van.

"Making a public stand isn't exactly part of our culture," said 
Jason. "But I think in this case the death penalty is a bit extreme, 
and I feel strongly about this."

Next to him, an older woman called Constance Singham let out a rich 
belly laugh. She is a women's rights activist and a restaurant owner.

"Change is going to take years here," she said. "It took us 15 years 
to convince people to take domestic violence seriously.

"It may sound funny," she went on. "But we're a society conditioned 
to live in fear. Still, as people become more educated and start to 
ask questions, our government will have to listen to us."

So much for long term.

Right now Singapore's elderly hangman has work to do. Mr Singh 
doesn't give interviews to the media.

But it is understood that he is keen to retire fully as soon as 
possible. The trouble is, no one else wants his job.

 From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 26 November, 
2005 at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules 
for World Service transmission times.
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MAP posted-by: Beth