publichouse.sg

Sabahan Yong Vui Kong, 23, is on death row in Singapore for drug trafficking. Malaysiakini is publishing Yong's final letters to Yetian, a member of the Save Vui Kong Campaign, as he faces death.

"Before I begin, I would like to thank everyone for reading this 12th letter. Time passes so quickly that this will be my last letter.

I hope that when you finished reading this letter, despite whatever that is going to happen to me, you will continue to support 'We Believe in Second Chances' campaign.

For my final letter, I would like to write about how I feel about facing death.

The Republican nomination remains Mitt Romney’s to lose, but his party’s ambivalence towards him could cost them the actual election.

As the front-runner to be the Republican nominee for President in the elections this fall, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has quite a few qualities going for him: the son of a well-regarded and wealthy former governor of Michigan, he has a track record of volunteerism as well as practical managerial experience in both politics (during his fairly successful single-term as governor) and in business, where he made his money in private equity.  Polls have largely shown that he is the best-placed Republican to beat incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama.

“Boss he said to me now no have job. He said I go outside find job,” Shafiz told Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2). There was however, one condition: Shahbas had to pay the boss $450 a month. “Boss said he must pay levy.”

Understanding the deal, Shahbas went out to find work for himself, and over the next 12 – 15 months, he was generally successful, though there was a lot of moving around — a month here, a month there, as a cleaner, construction worker, or restaurant helper. On average, he took in $1,400 or $1,500 a month (with lots of overtime), from which he had to pay for his own accommodation (costing him about $180 – $200 a month) and the $450 demanded by F&I.

This short essay does not intend to add to the rich debate already surrounding the issue of ministerial pay. It only intends to discuss the wider implications this episode might have for national politics.

Many informed opinions weighing in on the ministerial pay issue have explained the mixed reaction to the committee’s recommendations as a matter of public anger or dissatisfaction [1]. Some have linked this anger to the government’s perceived failure to fulfil the implicit compact of very high salaries for very high quality results. There has also been a heartening wave of principled debate over why we should or should not pay our political leaders in the recommended manner.