Joseph K H KOH, High Commission to Australia of the Republic of Singapore
Fax (02) 6273 9823

December 1, 2005

Mr Koh,

I grew up a couple of miles from where you live, there, in the comfort of Australia, far from the heat and bustle of Singapore. I know, Canberra is a boring and dreadful place, in many ways, but being a resident in it sure does beat being a simple citizen at the whim of, say, your own government. But you have risen above that, and now can look down on the mere pawns of your government’s own game of oppression and anathemization of the citizenry, all in the cause of the comfort of the government’s selected, unelected few.

Your government’s draconian imposition of the death penalty on your country’s powerless proceeds from the same base of brutality and subjection that has been indulged in for millennia by the few and the powerful. Physical, mental, emotional, and ultimately spiritual terror are always the methods that your power-mongering colleagues and forebears choose. Whether you choose the lash or the noose, the goal is always the same. Of course, you always lose in the long run, and humanity wins out, but that is no consolation for the living and the executed.

So, it’s with disgust and disdain that I read in the Sydney Morning Herald, this morning, your comments about your government’s upcoming, planned murder of Van Nguyen. Of course, you put your views so diplomatically. You care for Van Nguyen’s family and friends: “We are all touched by the pain and anguish shown by Mr Nguyen's mother.” That’s indeed very big of you, sir. But, of course, if your comments were sincere, you might pause before, and oppose, the government murder of hundreds of Singaporeans, each year, and now of Mr Nguyen.

You say, of Australians’ anger: "I respect that. I know where they are coming from.” Again, this is simply very easy for you to say. In fact, it is merely your job to say this, because a high commissioner is not a person, but a pawn, a simulacrum. How unfortunate. I can only hope that you try, as a Singaporean citizen, to exert some influence on the ironclad power mongering that you have inherited from your country’s dictators.

You say, of Australian protesters, "But I hope they will also accept that Singapore has a responsibility to protect the many lives that would otherwise be ... destroyed by the drug syndicates.” But you know, from many news reports, that Mr Nguyen was attempting to save one life already nearly destroyed by a drug syndicate - his brother’s. You also know that peddlers are not the problem, drug syndicates are. And yet, your country’s record is not one of hunting down syndicates, but of killing extremely small players, such as Mr Nguyen - people who are among the very victims of the forces you claim to be protecting them from. Ah, so now your equation is clear: You think that killing people saves them from themselves.

Thank you very much for your blithering condescension. But, again, that is your job, as a pawn in the game.

Sadly, and with deep disdain, because blood is on your hands,