To: The Editor, The Singapore Strait Times
Re: Singapore’s terrorizing death penalty

In all the Singapore government's righteousness about killing people who possess even minute quantities of drugs, and in all the Australian protests about the Singapore government's impending murder of an Australian, the broader point seems to be overlooked. This is that the Singapore government's actions, like those of tyrannous rulers throughout history (including, e.g., the government of several US states such as Texas), is designed not to enhance public safety. It is, instead, a brute imposition of power designed to subject and anathemize the local population. The Singapore government murders convicts in great numbers, just as it subjects even mild political protesters to brutal suppression, all in contravention of agreed international standards of decency. The goals of such actions seem, in fact, remarkably akin to those of terrorism.