'Soft heart, hard head': Shanmugam says S'pore relies on hard facts and compassion over drugs, death penalty

“For public policy making… you need a hard head to analyse, understand facts. You need a soft heart because you need to have compassion,” Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said on Wednesday .

Showing a video by United States broadcaster NBC News of infants suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms and children found in drug dens as examples of these victims, he asked: “Who cries for these children?” Youths at the dialogue were polled about whether they felt the death penalty is an effective deterrent in safeguarding Singapore against serious crimes such as drug trafficking.

Two youths who attended the dialogue told TODAY that while they were originally neutral towards the death penalty’s effectiveness, they now feel the death penalty is somewhat of an effective deterrent.Mr Shanmugam said that Singapore was a target for drug traffickers due to its busy port and high average income.

On why the death penalty is used, Mr Shanmugam said that the number of kidnappings, firearm offences and drug trafficking had dropped after the death penalty was introduced. The death penalty applies to these offences. Singaporeans could also vote out the Government of the day, or they could bring pressure to bear to try to persuade the Government to change its policy.Youths asked Mr Shanmugam about the death penalty, including whether the studies he cited as evidence of the impact of illicit drug use on one’s mental health is accurate.

One youth asked about the moral and ethical implications of capital punishment, to which Mr Shanmugam said that thousands of lives are saved when Singapore executes a few people.“But it’s a position based on ideology… I come from a slightly different value, which is a state’s obligation to ensure safety and security within Singapore and to save lives.”

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