28th April 2022

Not even a single drop

Of the milk of human kindness

Flowed from thy dried-up breasts, 

O Singapore, 

Nor was even a single ounce of compassion to be found

In the hollow chambers of thy shrivelled-up heart

For you condemned a man to death 

For 42.7 grams, or three tablespoons, of a prohibited substance

That, unlike the damage, say, 

42.7 kilograms of a similar substance 

Was potentially capable of, 

42.7 grams, or three tablespoons, of it will in no way 

i) bring down the government,

ii) plunge the entire country into a recession,

iii) incite a rebellion of the masses,

iv) etc.,

And hung him by the neck from a hook

Until he was dead

And his lifeless body twitched no more,

A man you could have pardoned

By presidential decree or otherwise,

A man who could have lived a long and fruitful life

As a redeemed and contributing member of society

A man who could have potentially sired

A future Nobel Physics Prize recipient

Or a future prime minister of the country of his or her birth,

A man whose mother came begging on her knees
For her son's life
But whose futile pleas fell on deaf ears,
Ears deafened no doubt by years and years
Of dealing with distressed and frantic family members
Pleading for the lives of their loved ones
On Death Row

A man you sent to the gallows 

Not for having killed scores of innocent bystanders

By means of a strategically-placed car bomb

Or for having raped and killed dozens of children

Or for having murdered both an unfaithful partner and her lover

And afterwards disposed of their dismembered body parts

In a tub of highly corrosive acid

But for 42.7 grams, or three tablespoons, of a prohibited substance 

With a street value of less than a thousand bucks

But worthy of death nonetheless

In accordance with your draconian laws

And compassionless hearts.

Will you be pardoned for your sins

When the books are opened on Judgement Day

And your name is called,

O Singapore?

I think not,

Thou heartless murderer,

I think not.

Did you not know,

Thou self-righteous fool,

That all judgement passed down on Judgement Day

Will be based on laws written on stone tablets

By the hand of God on Mount Sinai,

Something, except for Judaism,

None of the other great religions of the world

Can boast of, incidentally,

However great the number of their devotees

Or powerful their armies might be, 

In terms of a holy book having being written,

Even if only in part, by the hand of God,

One of which says, 'Thou shall not kill,' period,

Not,

'Thou shall not kill

Except

In cases deemed worthy of the death penalty

In accordance with the laws of Singapore,'

And did you not know,

Thou self-righteous fool,

That when the books are opened on Judgement Day,

Singapore or Somalia,

Everyone will be judged equally without bias or prejudice

According to the contents of his or her own personal file?

 

So, I ask you again,

Will you be pardoned for your sins

When the books are opened on Judgement Day

And your name is called.

O Singapore?

 

I think not,

Thou self-righteous fool of a heartless murderer,

I think not.