“One-eyed Dragon” hanged

One-eyed Dragon

Tan Chor Jin (aka “One-eyed Dragon”) hung on Friday morning for murdering a former friend and nightclub owner Lim Hock Soon in 2006. His appeal for clemency to the President was turned down.

Criminal lawyer Subhas Anandan recounted in his memoirs, The Best I Could, his meeting with Mr Tan in August 2008, when he was getting him to sign his petition to the President.

One-eyed Dragon was sceptical about signing the petition, knowing that it would be turned down. But he told his lawyer that he wanted to defer his execution for as long as he could.

This was the exchange, as recounted by Mr Anandan:

One-eyed Dragon thought for a moment. “You know, I want to defer my execution for as long as I can.”

“Why? Are you afraid to die?” I asked.

“No, no, no. I’m not afraid to die. In fact, it would be quite good to die.”

“Then why do you want to delay the execution?”

“When I was arrested and charged, my son was only a few months old. Now he is almost two years old. When he comes to see me, he calls me ‘papa’. I spend time with him even though I’m in this condemned cell. I love that boy and love even more to hear him call me ‘papa’. I just want to hear him call me that for a few months more. That’s why I hope to have the execution delayed.”

I told him that when I send the petition to the President, I could include a note stating his wish. It could give him a little more time. He instructed me to do that.

Mr Tan may have been a convicted murderer who deserved to die under Singapore law, but his crime does not take away an ounce of humanity from him. As a father to a baby daughter, I feel sad for Mr Tan. He will not be able to hear his son call him ‘papa’ any more, and a young boy is going to grow up without a father.

May his soul rest in peace.

Author: Gerald Giam

Gerald Giam is the Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC. He is the Head of Policy Research of the Workers' Party of Singapore. The opinions expressed on this page are his alone.

4 thoughts on ““One-eyed Dragon” hanged”

  1. Hi Gerald,

    Congratulations! I may have jumped the gun but it seems that you are now a father! I’m happy for you!

    Not forgetting happy new year too!

    On a more sombre note, it will be a very very sad state of affairs if Mr Tang could jump the queue.

    Regards,
    An Old Friend

  2. Thanks Old Friend. Sorry I moved the comment about Tang Wee Sung to another post, because I wanted to keep that issue separate from this.

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  4. I am researching the Tan Chor Jin case as part of a student assignment and came across this.

    Ultimately I don’t know your position but this article does read like one which softly opposes the death penalty and it makes me angry at the lack of balance.

    please read the judgement publicly available on the case which describes in detail the brutality of his actions. (link below) I ask where is Tan’s humanity when carrying out his crimes. Where is his humanity when face to face with the decreased daughter and wife?

    While I would concede we should be above simple animalist tendencies for reciprocal penalties, I see no need to embellish his humanity which ultimately what this article is doing.

    and if this was an covert attempt to sway opinion on the death penalty, then it is biased, uninformed and frankly contemptible.

    http://www.singaporelaw.sg/sglaw/laws-of-singapore/case-law/free-law/high-court-judgments/13111-public-prosecutor-v-tan-chor-jin-2007-sghc-77.

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