Corporal Punishment, Capital Punishment and Island State

Caning and hanging is some form of punishment in country that I live in. People who commit vandalism and people who violate the immigration law may face caning. People who possess firearm and who traffick drug (more than 15g of heroine) will face mandatory death penalty.

However, people have individual view on those issues. Some people think it is inhumane and some people think it will deterred criminal from potential offences. Some people said "Nobody has right to take other people lives". Some said "Death sentence is the best way to prevent people from committing crimes". For me, I simply think caning is totally unfit for today society and mandatory death penalty for non-violent crime is too harsh.

I felt really sorry for Nguyen Van Tuong, Vietnamese Australian who was executed on same island that I live in less than 24 hours ago. One of the reason is that he is only a few months younger than me. He got caught in airport when he was about to board transit flight to Australia.

The words he told to his lawyer in his last week really touched me. Life should be go on as usual. He even did not want the country that executed him to effect by his death. I can feel forgiveness and peace in his soul.

I really applause his courage to face the dead calmly. He embraced prison superintendent when he went to gallow. He live his life to fullest before he died. I doubted myself whether I can face the situation calmly like him if I encountered this situation.

I deeply wish from the bottom of my heart that his soul can rest in peace. I wish all the families around the world can avoid similar situation that his family is facing.