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Ministry of Home Affairs' Response to Sir Richard Branson
- hunglee2 4y agoa microcosm of how the global south generally feels when the global north comes to lecture of ethics
- refurb 4y agoSingapore has some pretty smart people in government and usually makes good arguments, but this stuck out as crappy argument: "These opinions may be widely held in the UK, but we do not accept that Mr Branson or others in the West are entitled to impose their values on other societies. Nor do we believe that a country that prosecuted two wars in China in the 19th century to force the Chinese to accept opium imports has any moral right to lecture Asians on drugs." You can boil it down to "Because Western countries participated in the opium wars in China almost 200 years ago, you don't have the right to criticize us when we executed people for smuggling 501g of marijuana into Singapore". It's an ad hominem attack and an attempt to deflect criticism not through rationale argument, but rather playing the victim. Nobody is trying to "impose" their values, they simply criticizing Singapore's approach. Singapore is a sovereign country and answers to no one but themselves when it comes to their laws. But they also have to live with the consequences of the laws when it comes to international opinion. Thailand just legalized marijuana, Malaysia is looking at this experience and talking about medical marijuana, and as laws change around them, Singapore is going to be more and more the "odd man" out when they are executing people for smuggling a plant that is legal (or semi-legal) across much of SE Asia. Just based on recent quotes from the Minister of Law, I get the sense they feel they are under a lot of pressure and are attempting to double down.