My heart goes out to a 20 year old boy named Yong Vui Kong tonight.
If you haven’t heard of him, it’s time you do.
Vui Kong is currently locked up in jail in Singapore. He has until the end of the month to live before being executed – for drug trafficking.
But before you start making assumptions, know this; Vui Kong is from Sabah. His father left when he was 3. His lived with his grandfather who was abusive. His mother worked 12 hours a day trying to support her 6 children. He grew up in poverty. He never stopped school when he was ten to wash cars. His salary was RM3 per day. Food was never enough and his mother alone could not make ends meet. To help, Vui Kong moved to KL, trying to earn enough money to help his mother. With no education, no ability to read, write or speak, the only jobs Vui Kong could were ones where wages were a mere possibility and beatings likelihood.
And that’s when Vui Kong met the only people who could give him any decent kind of work and paying him properly without being abused – local triads.. TAIKO. Vui Kong help his taiko sell VCD’s and collect debts… and the first time in his life, he actually had enough money to buy her mother a present for his mother’s birthday. She had been sick. But Vui Kong didn’t have a chance to give her the present.
A few days later, big brother asked Vui Kong to deliver a ‘gift’ to his friends in Singapore – with a promise of a significant reward for doing this favour. Vui Kong naively agreed. You don’t try to be smart and ask too many questions when the boss gives you a task especially one that promised a good reward. It’s not like he had a choice anyway. Doing work for Big Brother seemed to be the only decent thing he could do to make a living.
Vui Kong was arrested in Singapore. He had unknowingly carried in 47.27g of heroin. Big brother told him the packet just contained smuggled cigarettes.
And now, Vui Kong faces death.
No one disputes the laws of the country. No one disputes that he was found with drugs. But do you think Vui Kong deserves to die for this? Many do not feel so. Articles have been written, petitions have been forwarded, and pleas have been made for the Singapore President to grant clemency to this boy. Singaporeans, Malaysians, people from the international community – no one wants to see this boy die. This was not some evil drug trafficker. This was an innocent boy. Naïve and ignorant perhaps – but innocent nonetheless.
But the Singapore government has a hard task ahead. It is a country that strictly upholds it laws with no compromise. It has a job of enforcing the laws of the country and preserving its peace. Should it grant Vui Kong a pardon, they fear that the malicious Big Brother will look for more innocent boys like Vui Kong to be their drug mule. What will we do then when 10 other Vui Kong’s suddenly emerge? Grant them all a pardon too? It is these triad bosses that we all really want brought to the gallows… even the Singaporean government knows that. But instead, it is stuck with what to do about Vui Kong
We will have to wait and see if the President of Singapore Mr. SR Nathan will grant Vui Kong a pardon. I hope will all my heart that he does. Vui Kongs failure is not of his own.. but of society and humanity. His failure is our failure. His mistake is our mistake. It is our failure as a society that has brought him to this point. It is our responsibility now as society not to punish him - but save him. The law of the land must be respected and upheld. But justice without mercy is cruelty. Let us not blindly enforce our laws to the point of sacrificing our humanity.
In his months in jail, Vui Kong has come to learn the teachings of Buddhism. He has vowed to be a advocate against drug abuse and to use his own life as a testimony to others. I hope he gets his chance to fulfill those vows.
More readings here:
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/a-plea-does-yong-vui-kong-deserve-to-die/
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/yongvuikong/
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/05/prejudicing-a-fair-trial-the-yong-vui-kong-case/
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