Benny Lim, artistic director of The Fun Stage in Singapore, wanted to stage Human Lefts, a play about the hanging of Singaporean drug courier Shanmugam Murugesu who was executed in May this year.
Shanmugum was one of Singapore's top sportsmen before he fell by the wayside. In prison he became good friends with Nguyen Tuong Van, and on the eve of his death, urged his lawyer to help Nguyen.
Unfortunately for director Lim, his play supposedly to be staged today, just 24 hours after Nguyen Tuong Van’s hanging, was too much for the Singapore government. So Big Brother hauled Lim in and ordered him to remove all references to the death penalty and to any political leader in the play.
Sounds like an old nightmare from the former USSR.
Lim said "The plot is still the same, about a son and father, but it's so general I've applied a different story to it.”
So, according to the wishes of Big Brother, in the play Shanmugum Murugesa was not executed for the reason there was no death penalty in Singapore. Bloke just went missing at sea on his jet ski, which he used to excel in and represent Singapore on those ski events.
Big Brother may act tough but is really scared that its own people, claimed to be 70% behind its death penalty, may be so revolted that they won't support such a draconian punishment.
Hmmm, I wonder whether the support is truly 70% if all Singaporeans are allowed to speak up, in anonymity of course.
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