Singapore surveys public on attitudes toward death penalty as rights groups call for its abolition
- The city state executed eight convicts last year, the highest number in a decade
- Human rights groups said the survey is unlikely to be a prelude to Singapore softening its position on capital punishment
Singapore will gauge public attitudes towards the death penalty in a survey, the interior ministry said on Wednesday, as human rights groups renewed calls for its abolition.
The city state – which staunchly maintains that capital punishment is a crime deterrent – executed eight convicts last year, the highest number in a decade, according to official data. They had all committed drug offences.
The Straits Times said it is the first time that the MHA, which is in charge of the prisons department, is conducting a survey on the subject.
Last week’s hanging in Singapore of convicted Malaysian drug trafficker Prabu N Pathmanathan sparked fresh calls to scrap the death penalty, a legacy of British colonial rule.
Neighbouring Malaysia, where the cabinet has decided to abolish the death penalty, had asked Singapore to spare the 31-year-old convict on humanitarian grounds.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is conducting the survey to give us a better understanding of Singapore residents’ attitudes towards the death penalty,” MHA said in a statement.
It said the survey is part of the government’s “regular research on our criminal justice system” and involves citizens and permanent residents.
