There is no question that Miss Poon committed a crime punishable by death.

She simply did not think of the ramifications if she got caught. And we know she did not think she would die.

Because of her youth and her stark ignorance, because she was not educated as to what would truly happen if indeed she got caught, Miss Poon faces death. But will her death deter others from committing the same crime? No. Plain and simple.

However, with the intervention of Singapore's President, Ong Teng Cheong, Miss Poon can educate and prevent others from doing stupid and mindless things.

It is my sincere belief that Mr Ong, as President, should commute her death sentence which is extremely and I do mean extremely negative, into a positive sentence. The positive is simple and most constructive.

Her positive and constructive goal in life would be to visit all schools in Singapore, from the lowest grades, where children can digest her clear message, to and including Singapore's universities.

Miss Poon would tell them what she did was without thought, that it was totally irresponsible and, because of her stupidity she was going to die. Not only that, Miss Poon can tell them what drugs do and cause, altering lives forever. She can also explainthat the drug dealers have no regard to human life, only the dollar.

After she has completed her positive sentence, she would be released to return to Hong Kong and perhaps she would do the same positive thing here. Who knows, she may well start an organisation here, work with the courts so that others can be saved not from death alone, but from drugs and the miserable life they cause. I for one would help her with this programme.

President Ong has nothing to lose.

He, Miss Poon, and her many audiences, have everything to gain.

This would be a tremendous educational programme to all and, by doing this, he will save lives. I urge President Ong to turn a negative into a positive. This would be first-hand and a very positive education, but isn't education what life is all about? BILL MONTGOMERY Kowloon RATHER than expressing my disgust to President Ong Teng Cheong of Singapore for the manner in which ''the Singapore authorities have shown total disregard for human life etc'', I personally take offence at the tone of David Ford's letter published in yourpaper on March 10.

Singapore law, and punishments meted out after due process of that law, are solely a matter for the government and courts of Singapore, as indeed they are for the authorities of any other country or territory. Singapore's harsh stance on the dangerous drugs question is well known and actively publicised to intending visitors, and serves well to express that country's disgust towards the international trade in narcotics, the misery inflicted on a sizeable proportion of the world's population by this menace, and the fact that there are those in this world who profit vastly from such misery.

In an age where an 18-year-old is deemed to have reached adulthood, the gullibility of youth is not a valid excuse for criminal misconduct. I am not an advocate of the death penalty, nor of corporal punishment, and I am pleased to have lived my life in countries where such punishments are no longer deemed appropriate.

Nevertheless, I would defend the right of other sovereign legislatures to enact their own laws within their own areas of jurisdiction, and for them to quite rightly expect visiting or even transmitting foreigners to abide by them. Singapore's message to drug traffickers is quite clear, and demonstrates a considerable regard for human life in a much broader context than that of a small number of convicted criminals who, directly or indirectly, seek to profit from human misery.

DON STEVENS Jardine's Lookout