Singapore 'leading the charge' for death penalty?

The Straits Times carried this interesting piece of news on 17th Nov.

Now don't ask me why I read the Straits Times into such details, I have other sources.

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ST Nov 17, 2007
UN resolution calls for capital punishment to be suspended
Singapore leads the charge against non-binding resolution that polarises members

UNITED NATIONS - A UNITED Nations General Assembly committee has passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on executions with the ultimate goal of abolishing the practice.

The non-binding resolution was given the green light on Thursday after two days of fractious and often bad-tempered debate - with Italy leading the anti-execution camp and Singapore heading the charge for the other side.

The draft proposal was introduced by 87 countries, including 27 European Union (EU) states.

In the end, 99 countries voted for a suspension of capital punishment worldwide, 52 voted against and 33 abstained.

In arguing against the resolution, Singapore said capital punishment is a criminal law issue which should be left to countries to decide.

Singapore's permanent representative to the UN, Mr Vanu Gopala Menon, said ahead of the vote that the EU co-sponsors were trying 'to impose a particular set of beliefs on everyone else'.
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I am not surprised that Singapore voted to keep the death penalty, but I am incredibly amazed that the Straits Times would report it as 'leading the charge' for death penalty. How could it be something that we are proud of? It is one thing to say that we want to retain death penalty, yet another thing to say that we are advocating death penalty.

I have very mixed-feeling about the capital punishment - on one hand I do not have much sympathy towards violent murderers, on the other hand I believe that capital punishment is not to be dished out lightly. Singapore's track record regarding this has been less than stellar, especially in the treatment of drug traffickers. I'll try to go into that next time.

Should the death penalty be seen as a human rights issue? There are arguments about what crimes 'deserve' the death penalty, although generally it has been accepted that death penalty should be reserved for the most violent and lethal crimes.

I do not subscribe to the school of thought that Singapore should abolish capital punishment entirely, but the lack of discourse about this topic is disturbing.

And Mr Menon, I want to laugh. Section 377A, does that ring a bell for you?

(Why am I writing so much in English recently? Never mind.)