BRITISH tycoon Richard Branson has rejected an invitation to debate Singapore’s interior minister on the death penalty, but doubled down on criticism over the execution of a Malaysian man.
The Ministry of Home Affairs invited Branson, a long-time campaigner against capital punishment, this month for a live televised debate with the interior minister on the death penalty and Singapore’s approach to illicit drugs.
The ministry even offered to fly the Virgin Group founder to the city-state to show why it should do away with laws that had kept it “safe from the global scourge of drug abuse”.The billionaire turned down the invitation and said the “brave thing” for officials to do would be to engage with local activists.
“They deserve to be listened to, not ignored or, worse yet, harassed,” Branson said in a letter posted on the Virgin website.
“A television debate – limited in time and scope, always at risk of prioritising personalities over issues – cannot do the complexity of the death penalty any service.”
The ministry had questioned Branson’s credentials on the subject, saying it did not accept anyone in the West was “entitled to impose their values on other societies”.
Branson was among global critics who had appealed for clemency in the case of a mentally disabled man sentenced to death for trafficking a small amount of heroin.
The Malaysian man, Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, was arrested in 2009 and hanged in April this year.
Authorities said legal rulings found he knew what he was doing at the time of the offence and that he was not intellectually disabled.
Activists in Singapore have long complained of harassment from the state.
“I think the invitation to debate on live TV was always more about political theatre than any sincere desire on the part of the Singapore government to engage with an open mind,” activist Kirsten Han said.
“Why would the government consider Richard Branson to be more worthy of a response than the families of death row prisoners and the Singaporeans who stand in solidarity with them?” — AFP
