From Martin Vengadesan
It’s another harrowing week for the families of Malaysians on death row in Singapore. News has broken that K Datchinamurthy is scheduled to be executed on Sept 25 at Changi prison.
He has spent 15 years on death row, arrested as a young man for agreeing to transport a package, only to later discover it contained heroin.
This weekend, I will be moderating the launch of a book by another Malaysian on Singapore’s death row, P Pannir Selvam. Convicted in 2017 for acting as a heroin courier, his book is titled “Death Row Literature: A Collection of Poems”.
Even before Datchinamurthy’s execution date was announced, 12 government MPs urged home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to contact Singapore to intervene in Pannir’s case.
It is very sobering, but when I recall the execution of another Malaysian, KD Nagaenthran, on April 27, 2022, I can’t help but be pessimistic about the fate of our countrymen. This is especially true when Nagaenthran was…