An NUS student death penalty opponent staged a protest at his graduation ceremony. As he received his diploma, the National University Singapore (NUS) graduate decided to protest against the death penalty by holding up an “abolish the death penalty” sign.
“Gather round, folks. Here’s a story on the sign I held on stage at my graduation, calling for the abolition of the death penalty in Singapore,” wrote Twitter user @AngMohSnowball or Luke on July 11.
He noted that the university authorities “tried their hardest to erase” his attempt.
The police have also received a report on the protest staged by the NUS student death penalty opponent.
“The police confirm that a report was lodged and are looking into the matter,” they said in response to media queries. They did not say who made the report or when it was made.
Luke said that his ceremony was at 2:30 pm on July 6, which was around the time of Kalwant Singh’s last court appeal to be spared the death sentence.
Malaysian drug trafficker Kalwant was found guilty of having 60.15g of heroin in his possession and trafficking 120.90g of the same substance. His appeal was unsuccessful, and he was executed the following day.
Luke wrote, “I felt uncomfortable with this juxtaposition of being celebrated by an institution of the state that was going to murder two the next day.”
On the death penalty, he noted, “it ignores how deliberate state violence and ignorance forces many into poverty and crime. It unjustly kills the poor. It is not an effective deterrent of ‘crime.’ And there’s no acquittal for those found innocent after execution.”
When he went up on stage, he unfolded his sign from his gown pocket.
Luke knew it was a “small act” that could inspire others to take similar action.
However, he noted that NUS took down the live recording of his commencement ceremony, only to re-upload it later with an edit.
He attached a photo of his sign with the words blurred out. “Thank goodness they didn’t do a good job with it.”
Luke noted that the institution could have just “not acknowledged” his sign but took the effort to crop the sign out.
“It makes them complicit in maintaining hierarchies of power in society. Hierarchies that neglect, that exploits, that turn people against each other, that kill,” he added.
Commenting on the post, netizens highlighted that the law is meant to be a deterrent. “Interestingly, the crime is still committed despite such a strict law. So it’s not the law; it’s the people,” said Facebook user Dewi Maya in a comment with over 185 likes.
Some disapproved of the protest by the NUS student death penalty opponent.
“Why don’t you channel your passion instead of rallying to force the law to be more lenient, use your passion to fight and prevent the crime. Instead of flashing ‘Abolish death penalty,’ how about flashing a board saying ‘Love Yourself, Love Your Family, Say No to Drugs,'” she added.
Others noted that the country’s laws need to be respected. “What I can say if you are not happy with the law here…You can leave Singapore and go elsewhere you think comfortable (you are) with. Please respect our country’s law here, and the will of the majority of people wants this law to stay. This harsh law is to protect SG families and children. No one will like to see anyone get hang unless you want to break the law here,” said Facebook user David Ng./TISG
Gather round, folks. Here’s a story on the sign I held on stage at my graduation, calling for the abolition of the death penalty in Singapore. And how NUS tried their hardest to erase it. A [thread emoji] 1/13 pic.twitter.com/T5xcpwdN3t
— Luke 💙💜 (@AngMohSnowball) July 11, 2022
Singapore Government urged to halt execution of M’sian Kalwant Singh scheduled for hanging on July 7