Van Nguyen, the death penalty and Singapore

Melbourne man, Van Tuong Nguyen, was hanged in Singapore's Changi Prison on 2 December 2005. He was 25 years old.

In 2002 Van Nguyen was arrested at Changi airport, in transit from Cambodia to Melbourne, for importing 396.2g of heroin into Singapore. He was convicted in 2003 and was sentenced to death.

Singapore hanged Van Nguyen despite calls for clemency from the Australian Prime Minister, the Pope, the federal Australian Parliament and every State Parliament, Amnesty International, tens of thousands of Australians, the Prime Minister of New Zealand and many, many others.

Van Nguyen was born on 17 August 1980 in a Thai refugee camp for Vietnamese refugees. He has a twin brother. Soon after he was born, Van and his family moved to Australia. He grew up in Melbourne and was an Australian citizen.

Read Mr Nguyen's failed appeal to Singapore's Court of Appeal: Nguyen v PP [2004] SGCA 47 (20 October 2004).

Singapore and the mandatory death penalty

In Singapore, draconian drug laws mandate the death penalty for anyone who imports more than 15 grams of heroin, 30 grams of cocaine or 500 grams of cannabis. Prominent Singaporean lawyer, K.S. Rajah, has been highly critical of the mandatory death penalty in Singapore. In his speech, "The Mandatory Death Sentence", Mr Rajah argues that Singapore violates customary international law by maintaining a mandatory death penalty. The problem with the mandatory death penalty is that a judge cannot look at the circumstances of the case and ensure that justice is done. All judicial discretion is removed and the judge must sentence the offender to death.

According to Amnesty International, Singapore executes more people per capita than any other country.

Read K. S. Rajah's speech on Mr Nguyen's case and The Mandatory Death Sentence in Singapore (22 March 2005).
See also the international anti-death penalty organisation Hands Off Cain page on Singapore.

singapore investments in Australia

The Singaporean government owns several investment companies, which have invested in Australia. The two largest are: Temasek and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation ('GIC').

Temasek owns...

100% of SingaporePower, which owns the entire Victorian electricity transmission network.
63% of Singtel, one of Asia's largest telecommuncations companies. Singtel owns 100% of the Australian telecommunications carrier Optus.
56% of Singapore Airlines.
53% of Australand (through Ausprop Holdings & Austvale Holdings), which recently successfully bid to construct a distribution centre for Coles Myer.
19% of JetStarAsia. 21% of JetStarAsia is owned by Tony Chew (who is a Director of Keppel Corp, which is 32% owned by Temasek). Qantas owns 49% of JetStarAsia.