The noose snaps and another body collapses in Singapore's Changi prison gallows at dawn on a Friday, while nearby elderly men and women dance the rythmic rituals of tai-chi in perfectly neat parks.
Elsewhere in what is regarded as the safest nation in Asia, the younger generations are readying for work and school, while newspapers reporting virtually no local crime wait to be bought at fastidiously clean news-stands.
Dawn on Friday is execution time in Singapore, the nation that human-rights group Amnesty International says has the highest death penalty rate per capita in the world.
According to Amnesty, 408 people have been hanged to death here since 1991, with authorities, who keep a tight grip on the local media, ensuring there is little public debate about its controversial system of capital punishment.
And just as many Asian nations aspire to emulate Singapore's economic success, it appears they are also increasingly following the city-state's zero-tolerance approach to crime and robustly embracing the death penalty.
Across many parts of Asia, capital punishment is on the rise, with China, Vietnam, Bangladesh and most recently the Philippines just some of the countries making international headlines with their enthusiastic attitude towards the death penalty.
"While in other regions around the world governments move away from the death penalty, we are seeing in Asia quite a substantial increase in the use of the death penalty," said Amnesty's Asia program interim director, Ingrid Massage.
Massage cited higher crime rates and increasing security fears generated by the global war on terrorism as factors in the worsening trend.
Although Singapore has the highest rate of executions per capita, China is the clear leader in sheer number of people put to death, with the government's "strike-hard campaign" against corruption throwing renewed focus on capital punishment.
Chinese authorities ensure the total numbers executed each year remain secret. Yet Amnesty said it had been able to determine 1,060 executions in China in 2002 and 2,468 the year before, with the actual number believed to be far higher.
In one particular death frenzy, Amnesty said at least 150 accused drug criminals were executed across China in June, 2002 to mark the UN' International Drugs Day.
"China stands out completely on its own. By all standards it goes off the scale," Massage said.
In Vietnam, the use of the death penalty is also on the rise, while tolerance for campaigning against the punishment is falling.
As in China, the official number of executions is a tightly held state secret, but AFP reported last month that at least 62 people were put to death by firing squad last year, mainly for murder and drug trafficking.
The Philippines joined its more authoritarian regional neighbors on the issue last month when President Gloria Arroyo announced that a near four-year moratorium on capital punishment would be lifted on Jan. 30 with the scheduled execution of two kidnappers.
The Philippines is closely following Japan, where 43 people have been executed since 1993.
South Korea also allows the death penalty with justice ministry figures showing 231 people were executed between 1976 and 1997.
MONEY GRAB: People were rushing to collect bills scattered on the ground after the plane transporting money crashed, which an official said hindered rescue efforts A cargo plane carrying money on Friday crashed near Bolivia’s capital, damaging about a dozen vehicles on highway, scattering bills on the ground and leaving at least 15 people dead and others injured, an official said. Bolivian Minister of Defense Marcelo Salinas said the Hercules C-130 plane was transporting newly printed Bolivian currency when it “landed and veered off the runway” at an airport in El Alto, a city adjacent to La Paz, before ending up in a nearby field. Firefighters managed to put out the flames that engulfed the aircraft. Fire chief Pavel Tovar said at least 15 people died, but
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
RSS