Holding on to hope: Vui Kong's hearing

Later today, Yong Vui Kong's appeal will be heard in Supreme Court.

Reality tells me not to be hopeful, but if we don't hold on to hope then what do we have to hold on to? Recent comments by Law minister Shanmugam include a total misrepresentation of the effects of mandatory death penalty or the abolition of it, oversight of statistics and research, and complete misunderstanding of what makes a First World country First World.

I am embarrassed that we have the death penalty, mandatory or otherwise. Legalised murder does not make us first world; it makes us very close to the jungle.

I do not want to raise my children in a country that leads its citizens believe that if someone is in the wrong, it is okay to kill them. Of course, it is worse when Mandatory precedes the punishment. But even the most fair trial that results in death is unfair. Nothing is fair when a life is devalued to that extent.

Later today, Yong Vui Kong's appeal will be heard in Supreme Court.

I am hoping against all hope for a miracle. I refuse to believe that our system is as far gone and soulless as this. I refuse to believe that they will kill a kid who got mixed up with the wrong crowd. I refuse to believe that a civilised society allows this.

I'm not going to wish Vui Kong luck - I don't believe it is luck that he needs. But at the very least I hope he feels us all holding him in our thoughts, words, prayers and hopes.

Vui Kong, Stay Strong.