From Elesh Vengadesan-Lee
The topic of Malaysians on Singapore’s death row has been in the news lately with the execution of K Datchinamurthy on Thursday.
It was both harrowing and timely, therefore, when Death Row Literature: A Collection of Poems, by P Pannir Selvam, was launched at a sombre event at Gerakbudaya in Petaling Jaya yesterday.
Pannir was on Singapore’s death row alongside Datchinamurthy and another inmate, KD Nagaenthran, all of them having been given the death sentence for smuggling heroin into the island nation.
At the launch, Pannir’s sister, Angelia, revealed that the book of poems was compiled over many visits, and that Pannir himself had to write them using just refill cartridges of ink, because pens are viewed as potential weapons and death row inmates are not allowed to possess them.
The launch was officiated by his family members and featured speeches by his lawyer, Too Xing Ji, Singapore death penalty abolitionist Kirsten Han of the Transformative Justice Collective, and Gerakbudaya managing director Chong Ton Sin.
It was attended by a large crowd that included deputy national unity minister K Saraswathy, and Lawyers for Liberty adviser N Surendran.
Pannir’s nephew, Aaron, read out a poem to the audience, as did human rights activist Effa Qamariani, and there was also a tabla performance by Vivek Rao and Divya Shesshsan.
The group observed a minute of silence for Datchinamurthy and held a panel discussion which included Angelia, University of Nottingham Malaysia lecturer Sheena Baharudin, and theatre activist Jo Kukathas. The panel was moderated by author and former editor Martin Vengadesan.
“Pannir is my brother. He was the captain of the school football team and a son who made our parents laugh. And a man who prays for others often, even from a prison cell,” said Angelia.
“I hope through his words, readers will discover his kindness, his tenderness, his hope and, of course, his regrets. May he not be defined by the worst mistake he made when he was 27 years old.
“I cannot help but highlight that my brother is next in line to be executed.”
The event included a call for Malaysia to abolish the death penalty system fully. At present, the death penalty is still on the books, even though the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023 has come into effect, with several laws amended to remove the mandatory death penalty.
Prisoners are still being handed the death penalty because it has been retained for 27 offences in Malaysia.
This is even though the government imposed a moratorium on all executions in October 2018. The last executions were carried out on May 24, 2017, more than eight years ago.
Furthermore, a majority of the 900-plus people still on death row are there for drug-related crimes, and they are often drug mules and addicts, not the kingpins.
Han said that in the past six years, there has been a huge change in anti-death penalty sentiment in Singapore.
“In the past, the Singapore government was able to act in this manner because the death penalty was not very visible and people trusted that the government was doing what was right.
“Today, we see teens, some 15 or 16-year-olds, attending solidarity gatherings and trying to understand why the death penalty is being imposed. We have students going door to door to visit Singaporeans and ask, ‘Can I talk to you about the death penalty?'”
In speaking about the link between literature and the death penalty, Jo recounted a memory of being asked in school to write a story from the perspective of a man who is to be executed the next day.
“People are taught to be selfish, and to then be given the chance to feel for somebody else, to feel what they might be feeling, is really important.
“It wasn’t as though I just came up with the thought, ‘Oh, I think the death penalty is wrong’. But someone showed me through literature to look at the picture in a different way. With empathy.
“So, literature is a very powerful thing, because it allows you to understand another person,” she said, adding that she is now firmly a death penalty abolitionist.
Sheena also highlighted the importance of being allowed to tell the truth in art, citing an occasion where she lost her job because of a poem she wrote.
“Art must be a reflection of who we are, who society is, and one of the first steps is to be able to tell the truth.
“When I read a couple of Pannir’s poems, I immediately gained a sense of who he is. He is speaking with his voice and reaching beyond his prison cell. The poetry brought a connection,” she said.
Elesh Vengadesan-Lee is an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.