absolutum dominium

i read the articles written by the australian opinion editors on nyugen tuong van and singapore's death penalty with great curiosity. i have to give these writers credit for the amount of rhetoric put into each article, and the emotive kind of response tt such articles may draw.

but in spite of everything, behind the layers of righteous indignation, i realise tt the articles have no legal substance. yesterday, i consulted with my advanced criminal law tutor on the laws of canada, and what canadian judges would have done if faced with such a case. his reply: tt guy is toast. even though singapore has laws which are very different from canada's, judges generally work from the judgement backwards to their reasoning. and if you've got 396 g of heroin, there's no fucking way in hell you're walking. an acquittal is just plain out of the question. so maybe you're not going to hang, but there's no way you're going to walk. mitigating circumstances taken into account, the sheer number of lives you can ruin with tt much heroin is way to disproportional to what life you are trying to protect.

and today when i consulted with my international law tutor on the point about the guy being searched and arrested at changi's airport transit lounge even before he entered singapore immigrations and customs, and whether the defence tt he should be subjected to internatonal law rather than singapore law, his reply in short, was tt the guy was one stupid bastard. yes, tt's his words exactly. he said tt as long as you are on the soil of a country, it doesn't matter tt you don't go through immigration. you are already on tt country's territory and therefore subject to tt country's jurisdiction.
and like my previous blog title: "ignorantia legis neminem excusat". according to him, the bastard should have known. they announced it over the airwaves in the plane and in the airport tt entering singapore with narcotics is going to get you hanged. and the guy chose to do it anyway.

so moral of the story? hard as it is: he had it coming.

btw, contrary to what most people, esp those pesky human rights advocates assume, hanging is not a so-called "19th century" contraption, nor is it any less human than say, the electric chair, the firing squad or what have you (okay. i think lethal injection is the next wave, but even then you can't really say for sure tt it's any much better). like bungy-jumping, the rope with which to hang you is measured in length according to your size and body weight. the objective is a clean drop. coz with a clean drop, as long as you don't struggle, the sudden force of gravity on your body will cleanly snap your neck, making your death swift and painless. it's only painful if you struggle, coz then you interfere with the pull of gravity such tt your neck doesn't snap cleanly and you end up suffocating yourself to death.

so it's not really all tt inhumane. if it's painful, it's coz you chose to inflict tt pain upon yourself.

but anyway the weather this afternoon was really lovely. it was sunny and all, albeit cold. i tried canadian perogies for the first time today. they're like chinese wo tie or pan-fried dumplings, except with a filling of mashed potato flavoured with cheese. you eat them with sour cream, bacon and spring onions. i also had tomato bisque soup. tt was yummy. but to be honest, i'm missing chilli and curry a lot. i miss my prata with chicken curry, my chicken curry mee, and most of all, my bak chor mee kia dry with extra extra chilli!!! argh. there, i said it.

it's really cold now though. i can hear the wind howling outside my window. it's almost like a scene right out of a horror movie before the big bad ghost arrives to wreak mighty destruction on whoever. gosh. halloween is next monday, but already so many people are in the spirit of halloween. i've got a hall dance thing tomorrow; i'm going to the pacific national exhibition halloween special thingy with eileen on sat... and worst of all, i have absolutely nothing to wear! ARGH! i am going to stick out like a sore thumb when everyone dons their magnificent halloween costumes.

but to be honest, right now the cold and creepy weather makes me kinda miss the boy. somehow i feel so distant from him right now, like once again, phone calls just aren't enough. it isn't the same snuggling up to your pillow when the wind howls outside, as it would be when someone is next to you and holding you and watching you sleep. sometimes the memories just come back at all the inopportune times, and even though i always say tt it's the memories tt keep me alive, especially now when i'm alone on my own and so far away from all the people who mean so much to me, sometimes they just make you feel more wistful and longing than you should.

and it's amazing how when i run, a dance track like "move your body" will make me want to dance with my baby again. it's just tt song and how it triggers memories of him and thumper. sigh. i miss clubbing actually. and i especially miss clubbing with my mambo whores. it'll be 7 months at least before we will be reunited again. :(

but on the upside, i finally watched trainspotting today. and it automatically goes onto my list of all-time fave movies. :) i love danny boyle films.