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Comment by EdwardDiego | Hacker News Reader

A law passed in 1973 and amended in 1977 was based on the British use of force in China in the 19th century to sell opium?

Feels like a long bow, but go on, I'm listening.

The sources I can find state:

"Then Minister for Home Affairs and Education, Chua Sian Chin said (Sing., Parliamentary Debates, vol. 37, col. 34 (27 May 1977)) - unless drug trafficking and drug addiction [are] checked, they [will] threaten our national security and viability. To do this, both punitive and preventive measures must be taken. The [Misuse of Drugs] Act was thus amended to provide enhanced penalties for traffickers, including mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking and manufacturing”.

So I'm wondering what was going in Singapore in the 70s.

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It isn't specific to Singapore, but the entire region. In the early 19th century there was huge demand for Asian goods in the west, which led to a huge trade disparity because China had little interest in western goods. The British East India Company was able to negate that through smuggling opium to such a degree that it was emptying the Chinese coffers and caused a drug abuse epidemic, which then forced China into conflict with Britain. This led to the Treaty of Nanking starting a trend of colonial subjugation and weakening of the Qing Empire and is considered the beginning of Century of Humiliation in China.

Then you have to take the additional context of how power coalesced in many of these Asian tiger economies through strong authoritarian governments during their modernization and independence. I do not think it is a stretch to think that other nations in the region, especially those with close proximity to China, or have large Chinese populations (like Singapore), saw how unbelievably poorly this went for China, which probably contributed to the extreme measures used to prevent recreational drug contraband from being used in their societies.

Most likely hardlines in power. Much like early South Korea and Taiwan, who's people had fortunately broken out of this trap.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Action_Party

In South Korea today, you can be imprisoned for five years just for having any drugs in your system (follicle test) no matter where ingested & South Korean citizens can be punished for consuming drugs abroad where they would otherwise be legal:

https://medium.com/@alexjanmaat2/recreational-drugs-in-korea...

In Taiwan today, manufacturing, selling, or transporting Cocaine is a mandatory life (or death) sentence:

https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=C00000...

At least they've had another party in power since they've gained independence and there's momentum for change. There is hope.

Opium is important in the history of Singapore. The city was mainly developed for and by the opium trade, but also faced issues due to legal local consumption up to the 1940s. It's not what directly brought the draconian legislation in the 1970s, but it certainly contributed.

Some history on opium and Singapore:

https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/vol-11/issue-3/oct-dec-2015/dr...

Thanks, I'll have a read :)

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