His Excellency Mr. T Jasudasen
High Commissioner,
High Commission of the Republic of Singapore,
209, Jalan Tun Razak
50400 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Memorandum protesting the denial of due process to Yong Vui Kong and calling for his life to be spared
1) Mr. Yong Vui Kong, a 22 years old Malaysian citizen awaits on death row to suffer execution for an offence of trafficking under the Misuse of Drug Act.
2) Yong is a victim of a mandatory death penalty law, which militates against accepted international norms and human rights principles.
3) A child of a broken family, Yong was only 18 years old when arrested under Singapore’s anti-drug laws, which we say is harsh and loaded with unfair presumptions against the accused.
4) Yong’s appeal against the imposition of the mandatory death penalty upon him was dismissed by the Singapore Court of Appeal on 14th May 2010 thus paving the way for his killing upon the gallows of Changi prison.
5) Yong is now due to submit his clemency petition to the President of Singapore. On 13.8.2010, the Singapore High Court shocked the world by ruling and revealing that the President of Singapore has no powers to grant a pardon, and that it is the Cabinet that makes the decision for Life or Death.
6) Even before his appeal was decided, Singapore Law Minister Shanmugam, a member of the Cabinet, had made this public statement:-
“Yong Vui Kong is young. But if we say ‘We let you go’, what is the signal we are sending?”
7) Thus, this young Malaysian’s right to due legal process has been utterly and illegally denied. His petition for clemency has been dismissed before it was even filed! Youth and personal circumstances are the main grounds upon which Yong appeals for clemency, yet the Cabinet has already ruled out those very grounds. In the face of death, Yong has been denied the fundamental right to be heard. A mockery has been made of the pardons process, and the value of human life has consequently been cheapened.
8) 100,000 people have sent a petition for mercy to the President of Singapore, but no reply has been given. Yong’s anguished family has cried for mercy before the Presidential Palace in Singapore, but no mercy is granted.
9) Yong Vui Kong’s extreme youth and his tragic childhood, cry out for the exercise of mercy and compassion. Singapore has the chance to perform a supreme act: that of substituting Life for Death.
For the above reasons, and in the name of our common humanity, we the undersigned
i. protest the denial of due process to Yong Vui Kong; and
- call upon the President and Government of the Republic of Singapore to spare the life of Mr. Yong Vui Kong, by the grant of a Presidential Pardon.
1) LAWYERS FOR LIBERTY
2) MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
– S. Manickavasagam ( Kapar) – Teo Nee Ching Serdang)
– M. Manogaran (Teluk Intan ) – Anthony Loke (Rasah)
– Tian Chua (Batu) – Charles Santiago (Klang)
– R. Sivarasa (Subang) – Sim Tong Him (Kota Melaka)
– Zuraida Kamarudin (Ampang) – Lim Lip Eng (Segambut)
– William Leong (Selayang)
– Nurul Izzah Anwar (Lembah Pantai)
– Elizabeth Wong (Exco of State of Selangor)