The death penalty

Namaliu: It is appropriate because of the increasing public pressure to toughen up on penalties as a deterrent. It is also compatible I suppose with traditional methods of punishment which are more familiar to our people than some of the introduced ones. In a country where social control was administered through penalties, there’s a strong belief now that the penalties aren’t harsh enough.

There has been increasing pressure over the years for the death penalty to be re-introduced as a deterrent. People think that is the way people should be dealt with and tnat is why we have decided to re-introduce it. □

Chan: I think it’s a retrograde step. We’re going back to the days of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. It’s going to cause more problems. I think it is likely to compel people to defy the justice system. They can take justice upon themselves. If the principle is, if you kill you snail be killed, then instead of going to the courts they may as well do it themselves and they solve the problem in the old ways. Basically I think the government is just simply ignor ant of the fact that the root of the causes of law and order is lack of employment, the root cause of all this is not enough jobs, Dad planning, not enough distribution of services, those are the causes. By introducing the death penalty you end up with a lot of hangings or executions but you still won’t have solved the problem. □