High percentage of Malaysian Indians on Singapore's death row questioned
Human rights group Sebaran Kasih is questioning why a seemingly large proportion of Malaysians receiving the death penalty through the judiciary system in Singapore appear to be of Indian ethnicity.
"Our list of Malaysians who are on death row in Changi Prison show that six out of seven names are of Indian ethnicity - namely K Datchinamurrthy, Kalwant Singh a/l Jogindar Singh, Y Tamilselvam, P Pannir Selvam, S Saminathan and Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam. The seventh is Rahmat Karimon.
"This begs the question - is this a result of institutional racism, socioeconomic inequality, or another undiscovered factor?" a Sebaran Kasih spokesperson told Malaysiakini.
Yesterday, Malaysiakini reported that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has personally appealed to his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong for Nagaenthran to be spared the gallows.
This is to allow for a fresh clemency petition to be filed.
The Malaysian - who has a mild intellectual disability and has an IQ of 69 - is set to be executed in the city-state on Wednesday (Nov 10) for a drug trafficking conviction.
"The Malaysian government, the Malaysia Bar Council, the lawyers, NGOs and public and Singaporean human rights groups are advocating to stop the execution of Nagaenthran.
"All this is necessary to prevent an unlawful execution under local constitutional law and foremost humanitarian principles. Despite all this, Singapore still wants to proceed with Nagaenthran's execution," the spokesperson said.
"Statistically, Indians make up seven percent of the population in Malaysia and nine percent of the population in Singapore. Yet, their numbers on Singapore's death row appear to be largely disproportional," they added.
Sebaran Kasih cited that in 2010, Singapore convicted British author Alan Shadrake, sentencing him to six weeks in jail and fining him for scandalising the judiciary over his book, titled "Once A Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Docks".
This was after Shadrake claimed that Singapore’s legal system does not deliver equal treatment to those charged in capital punishment cases.
Rare instances of death sentences overturned
Sebaran Kasih did laud Singapore for rare instances in which a Malaysian death-row inmate had a sentence overturned or commuted.
"In 2009, two days before his scheduled execution date, Yong Vui Keong obtained a stay of execution while in March 2021, Beh Chew Boo escaped the gallows as well after he was acquitted by the Court of Appeal following an earlier conviction."
Sebaran Kasih cited that currently, a Singaporean rapper of Indian-descent, Subhas Nair, is facing charges following his outspoken criticism on several incidents of alleged racial biasedness.
"Since the tragic death of George Floyd in the US, people around the world have woken up to the fact that police brutality and systematic racism towards minorities do exist.
"In Malaysia, deaths in police custody, a disproportionately high number of Indians are represented while in Singapore, Indians (both from Malaysia and Singapore) make up a higher percentage of death row inmates compared to the national population.
"These issues come with many dimensions and need to be examined from all angles. We need to fight poverty and racism together with the same aim - to fight for justice and end discrimination," Sebaran Kasih said. - Mkini
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