SE ASIA AND THE DEATH PENALTY
Do you believe in the Death Penalty? We can't deny that heinous crimes are more rampant now than before. But how do we check and control it? Mere life imprisonment? -- and if the criminal is such a great actor worthy of an Oscar, be released for good behaviour before he finish his sentence? There is really something wrong here.
The Amnesty International website defines death penalty as: "the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment that violates the right to life. It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. It has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments."
Hmmm...they got a point there too. But I disagree with the "cruel" part. Isn't the main reason why they received the death penalty is because of their "cruel" deeds? And "inhumane" crime? Didn't those convicted criminals "degraded" the victim's right to life too? Grey area here, big time.
I have a cold shoulder on their issue. Has Amnesty International ever tried to run a country? An organization of a thousand is far, far different than running let say, a country of 100 million. Or has anyone of their members have been a victim of heinous crimes? If not, how would they know the true feelings of a "victim"? Won't they cry justice too? Grey area, BIG TIME!
The Amnesty International website defines death penalty as: "the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment that violates the right to life. It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. It has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments."
Hmmm...they got a point there too. But I disagree with the "cruel" part. Isn't the main reason why they received the death penalty is because of their "cruel" deeds? And "inhumane" crime? Didn't those convicted criminals "degraded" the victim's right to life too? Grey area here, big time.
I have a cold shoulder on their issue. Has Amnesty International ever tried to run a country? An organization of a thousand is far, far different than running let say, a country of 100 million. Or has anyone of their members have been a victim of heinous crimes? If not, how would they know the true feelings of a "victim"? Won't they cry justice too? Grey area, BIG TIME!
Here are the countries in SE Asia that kept their sanity and didn't give in to pressure of other countries and the political Amnesty International;
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei and Burma.
Brunei and Burma haven't had any execution in 10 years so AI is all hoping to heaven that these countries has already abolished the death penalty. Woohoo! Another "achievement" for them to put on their website, eh? Ha!
Only 2 countries in SE Asia gave in to the pressure of other countries (and the political AI) and abolished death penalty:
Cambodia in 1989 and the Philippines in 2006.
Now these countries, especially the Philippines has more than enough executions to horrify Hitler and Pol Pot. Our Filipino readers left messages here that there are indeed a lot of summary executions especially their journalists -- What do we do to those who kill them? Protect their human rights? --as a criminal? Ha! Shall we continue to glorify these criminals by letting them live a relatively peaceful lives in jail in case of a conviction? *this is giving me a splitting headache*
AI's most concrete argument is the wrong "execution" of the innocents. We must admit-- it does happen. But how many "alleged" innocents was executed against the number of correct convictions? Do they have numbers on that? I tried to look, but none. I'd like to think that these "innocents" would go to heaven anyway so maybe, we are doing them a favor? Just a thought.
And how many "not-really-innocent" convicted criminals have been freed because of AI's attention-hungry, publicity-thirsty pressure? Huh? There were a lot of foreign convicts in Thailand that was set free because of their country's efficient political pressure!
And on the part of the victims (victims of the convicted), does AI have a program to reach out to them and try to explain why their murderers should be let to live? I so would like to know.
All I can say is, I trust the judicial system of my country because I don't have other choice anyway. Whoever is convicted of an inhumane crime, must die an inhumane death. Period.
--Pisanu
6 Comments:
The thing is, when the death penalty was imposed in our country, there was no significant drop in the crime rate. It didn't serve its main purpose which is to deter criminals from committing heinous crimes. I don't know why that was the case. Maybe the fact that the government kept putting off executions had something to do it. Anyway, this is one factor to be considered in this death penalty debate.
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pisanu, are u referring to extra-judicial killings?
if so i'd like to add something based on my news reading(philippines):
victims of extra-judicial killings are mostly
-politicians
-journalists
-activists
-criminals who were freed because they can't be prosecuted on legal court
the first three are mostly those who oppose the administration. estimates by human rights group Kabataan states that there are around 600 slain activists since the arroyo administration plus more than a hundred which remained missing. most of these cases involves the police and/or the armed forces as antagonists. the government claims that they are implementing zero tolerance cver "extra-judicial killings".
ref: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HF02Ae04.html
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but if you are talking about death penalty as "capital punishment" in RP
-June 24, 2006, Gloria Arroyo, President of the Philippines, has signed legislation abolishing the death penalty. This move comes on the eve of a visit to see Pope Benedict XVI and only two weeks after the legislation was confirmed by Congress. The change in sentencing law will lead to more than 1,200 prisoners having their sentences changed to life imprisonment.
ref: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Death_penalty_abolished_in_Philippines
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I'm talking about both Aries. Those who do extra-judicial killings, if convicted -- must receive the death penalty. This is what I'm challenging Amnesty International about.
Death begets death.
According to a Western diplomat I used to date, only about 20%-30% of the journalists killed in the Philippines are connected with their work as media persons. With the activists, it is believed that most of these are anyway connected with an internal purge of the ideological relic that is Communism.
The absence of a national outrage with regards to these so-called extra-judicial murders is palpable, not because the people are afraid to talk, but basically people think these leftists had it coming - they have been nothing but a bunch of rusty, noisy tools in a shed with nothing to offer to national development. The Philippines will be better off without these inutile Left and corrupt journalist. May they stay in their graves where they all belong.
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Leo Echegaray y Pilo (July 11,1960 - February 5,1999) was the first Filipino to be meted the death penalty (by lethal injection) in 1999 after its reinsatement in the Philippines in 1995, and 23 years after the last execution was carried out under Philippine law. His death sparked debates about the legality and morality of the death penalty in the Philippines.
Echegaray was accused of raping his daughter Rodessa Echegaray (nicknamed by the media as "Baby Echegaray") in April 1994. He was convicted by Branch 104 of the Regional Trial Court in Quezon City on September 7, 1994. The death sentence was automatically reviewed by the Supreme Court and was affirmed on June 25, 1996. It was appealed by Echegaray, but the appeal was denied on January 19, 1999.
Less than a month later, Echegaray was executed on February 5, 1999. Witnesses during the execution have reported that his last words were, "Sambayanang Pilipino, patawarin ako sa kasalanang ipinaratang ninyo sa akin. Pilipino, pinatay ng kapwa Pilipino." [1] ("People of the Philippines, forgive me for the sin that you have accused me of. A Filipino, killed by a fellow Filipino.")
nah... i believe that criminals who've done inhumane things should suffer life imprisonment.
where is the justice in killing a criminal? actually, they want to be killed. it's freedom for them. they should suffer for 100 years with everyday 100 lashings.
now, that's justice.
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