Singapore's New Discretionary Death Penalty for Drug Couriers: Public Prosecutor v Chum Tat Suan
| DOI | 10.1350/ijep.2014.18.3.456 |
| Author | Chen Siyuan |
| Published date | 01 July 2014 |
| Date | 01 July 2014 |
| Subject Matter | Case Note |
CASE NOTE
DISCRETIONARY DEATH PENALTY FOR DRUG COURIERS:CHUM TAT SUAN
CASE NOTE
Singapore’s new discretionary death
penalty for drug couriers: Public
Prosecutor vChum Tat Suan
By Chen Siyuan*
Assistant Professor of Law, Singapore Management University
Keywords Misuse of Drugs Act; Drug trafficking couriers; Presumption of
innocence; Discretionary death penalty; Singapore
ingapore has always adopted an uncompromising stance against drug
trafficking. Harsh punishments—ranging from caning and impris-
onment to the death penalty—have largely been justified on the policy
grounds that drug addiction has the demonstrable potential to destroy the fabric
of society, break up families, and cause addicts to turn to violent crime to feed
their addiction.1These punishments are coupled with a series of presumptions
built into the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA),2designed to thwart the efforts of drug
syndicates from around the region to smuggle their merchandise into Singapore.
For instance, under s. 18 of the MDA, any person who is found with controlled
drugs is presumed to have had that drug in his possession and also presumed to
have known the nature of that drug.3In addition, under s. 17, if the controlled
drugs in question exceed a certain quantity, there is a presumption that it is for
the purpose of trafficking. A successful conviction for drug trafficking could,
depending on the quantity trafficked set out in the charge, lead to the mandatory
doi:10.1350/ijep.2014.18.3.456
260 (2014) 18 E&P 260–266 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EVIDENCE & PROOF
1 Second Reading of Misuse of Drugs(Amendment) Bill, Singapore Parl iament Reports, 12 November 2012.
2 Chapter 185, Revised Edition 2008.
3 For a commentary on these presumptions, see C. Siyuan and N. Khng, ‘Possession and Knowledge
in the Misuse of Drugs Act’ [2012] 30 Singapore Law Review 181.
S
* Email: siyuanchen@smu.edu.sg. I would like to thank my students Al-gene Tan Qing Wei and
Jerome Yang Zhelun for their invaluable comments and research rendered for this piece, though
any errors remain mine.
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