” So when Mr Richard Branson comes in to argue, he does n’t realise that we take our duty seriously, we are accountable to Singaporeans, we speak with thousands of them and we know what Singaporeans support”, said Mr Shanmugam.
The American billionaire has been outspoken in his opinions against Singapore’s dying penalty. In his false allegations about the treatment of defense attorneys in the case of convicted drug trafficker Nagaenthran Dharmalingam in 2022, he made misleading claims.
Branson was declined in reply, but MHA did agree to hold a live televised conversation with Mr. Shanmugam on the subject.
” The vast majority of Singapore know and understand the details and truth, and why the government says the dying sentence is necessary”, said Mr Shanmugam.
CHALLENGING THE Authorities
In his statement, Mr Shanmugam described pro- death penalty protesters as making “baseless claims, one- sided claims and quarter- truths”.
For making false statements about the death sentence handed down to convicted drug trafficker Tangaraju Suppiah, Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act ( POFMA ) orders were issued in May of last year.
Five parties – The Transformative Justice Collective, The Online Citizen Asia, Andrew Loh, Kirsten Han, M Ravi – had continued to fraudulently allege that Tangaraju was denied an interpreter during the recording of his speech, said Mr Shanmugam.
” This, despite , the Courts ‘ obvious speech to the contrary. A obvious, false assault on the criminal , righteousness system”, he said.