A murder of crows...

We killed a drug trafficker today. OK. Not "we" as in the Ondine and I we, but the Singapore "we". We did it. And we don't really feel sorry about it. Makes not much of a difference really. Nguyen was a drug trafficker. He wasn't a drug user. He might not have been a bad guy. He might not have had much of a choice about it. He might have been framed. Whatever.

He was a part of the heroin trade and the warnings were posted almost all over the place. Bring in drugs? We'll hang you. Harsh? Yes. Draconian. Definitely. Effective? Absolutely.

See, despite the fact that I constantly whinge about Singaporean's draconian measures regarding freedom, I can stand by the drug laws in Singapore. It's harsh but then again it deals with a really harsh problem. And while we haven't exactly eradicated the drug problem, we don't have to worry about druggies coming up to you demanding money for a hit. Nor do we need to worry about stepping on used needles on the beach. We won't need to worry about pushers on the street. And that's because we've managed to keep the system out of our country.

Nguyen was part of that system and I think that we've managed to send a very strong message. To Australia and the world. We mean business on the war on drugs. And we're fighting it like the war it is.

Australians of course have been making a whole lot of noise about the execution, calling us barbaric. Perhaps we are. But we're fighting barbarians anyway. Now, that's dangerous talk, especially since it opens up a whole can of worms that I'm not sure that I really want to deal with right now, but I think it needs to be said. There are certain lines that will not, must not be crossed and perpetrators that do need to be punished.

But then again, all that said, I think that we should have at least let his mom hug him once. There's still room for compassion in barbarism.