Wednesday, November 14, 2012

A Perverse Outcome

One of Glenn Knight's many war stories highlighted that in the early days after the Misuse of Drugs Act was first passed in 1972, the Crime Division of the Attorney-General's Chambers thought that a presumption in the law allowed  them to charge a man with drug trafficking if he was found in possession of more than a specific amount a controlled drug. He explained that the law was borrowed from a Canadian stature, but the law makers forgot to render the act of possession of the drug to be equal to the act of trafficking - sale, transport or delivery - of the drug. It was David Marshal who rightly pointed out that possession, in itself, was not sufficient to prove the act of selling or transporting the drug. That didn't stop Knight, wearing the hat of Deputy Public Prosecutor, from pressing for the kill, by arguing that in murder charges, they did not have to prove the elements of the charges, and all they needed to do was to prove the act of murder.

This was during the bad old days before, per earlier post, Knight had observed, "Nowadays, the law has become more important than the facts."

Problem is, the law hasn't improved much hence. Ms Sylvia Lim rightly pointed out that meting out harsher punishment for those in the lower rungs of drug syndicates - small fries with no access to the inner workings of the syndicate - is a perverse outcome of the "substantive assistance" requirement to escape the gallows.

Imagine that one faithful day of reckoning, when the guys in white are marched up one by one to the guillotine, in the fashion of the French Revolution finale. Should the Minister without portfolio in the Prime Minister's office escape the chopping block because he has so many secret stories to tell, while sacrificing the neophyte  who rode into parliament on the coattails of someone senior as she stomps and screams "I don't know what to say" all the way to be the nasty end?

Nominated MP Laurean Lien reminded the House that "every human life is precious". He said, "It is not just about our criminal justice system, ... it is also about the type of society that we want to build - a society that values every person and every human life, and one that doesn't give up on its people." Those that gave up on us - housing, transportation, jobs, education, healthcare - will be getting their just deserts one day.

20 comments:

  1. In the Case of Sin, just desserts will only arrived long after the Sinners, despots and the corrupted have left and disappeared.
    Spring will not happen in this scotching land.

    patriot

    ReplyDelete
  2. Never mind if they disappear. Isreali mosad is still able to exact revenge after 10-20 years.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This review of the Drugs Act is all just a wayang. It's so obvious that it will do nothing for mules who ironically are hanged for not being involved enough with drug trafficking syndicates to spill things.

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  4. Drug mules are sacrificed but the drug warlords shall prevail! It doesn't change at all. The game is still on!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Are the Crime Fighters and the Authority impotent to deal with drug lord?

    patriot

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
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      Delete
  6. Simple logic. If you slaughter he cow, how to milk it forever? If you kill the golden goose, will there be any more golden eggs for you? Do I have to be explicit? You are wise to decipher.

    ReplyDelete
  7. One Thaksin(Ex-Thai Premier) is reputed to have over 2000, yes, over two thousand drug lords executed within few years of his tenure.

    Here in this tiny dot, it seems very safe for drug kingpins.

    Lol.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nothing new from these PAPpies. All their lives, they have only seen their runners take the blame for all the major cockups in the govt ministries, while the big bosses are immune. Why should be we surprised of the application of their beliefs and policies to the revised Act?

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  9. I look forward to that faithful day of reckoning. I really do.

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  10. It's like the hangman's noose has been loosen by one centimetre. Can the drug mule escape or not?

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  11. A thought experiment: assuming the whites lose the majority in parliament at next GE, would Sylvia and Co face public servants who refuse to obey the new powers that be for fear of incriminating themselves for crimes against the state and abetting human rights abuses committed in the past, like Glenn Knight did? Will there be a Qin dynasty type fire to burn all documents cover all trails and transfer all reserves out of country? Or will Sylvia and Co offer an olive branch to these ex-lackey dogs, judges etc and retain the same despotic system since it served the ex-masters so well?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lots have to be done.
    Maybe, this explains why
    no Alternative Party wishes
    to replace the Incumbent.

    patriot

    ReplyDelete
  13. May the just deserts come soon !

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  14. One said that crime was rare during the brutal Japanese occupation, and consequently did not advocate a soft approach to crime and punishment. And that he learned more during the 3 years occupation than any university has taught him. Now they are saying that the law should be tempered with compassion. Which school of thought will prevail? You know who will have the final say. When it comes to their self preservation, all laws, however barbaric, will remain, like the ISA. They are control freaks.

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  15. what's your point? your writings are hard to understand

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  16. Its good to know that it was David Marshal who rightly pointed out that possession, in itself, was not sufficient to prove the act of selling or transporting the drug. I use Justdial Mumbai for local search.

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