> It is also not disputed that in subsequent post-trial proceedings for re-sentencing, he was assessed to have an IQ of 69. The trial judge found that the Plaintiff was not suffering from intellectual disability to any degree but accepted that he had borderline intellectual functioning.
Usually "intellectual disability" is defined as an IQ < 70, so that IQ test result would just put him in the intellectually disabled category, rather than the borderline category (which is 70–85).
Also, the psychiatrist Dr Ung's 2016 report – paragraph 18 of https://www.elitigation.sg/gdviewer/s/2017_SGHC_222 – stated that (my emphasis):
> 52. I am of the opinion that Mr Nagaenthran suffered from an abnormality of mind at the time of his arrest, namely: Severe Alcohol Use Disorder, Severe Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD) [sic] Combined Type and Borderline Intellectual Functioning/ Mild Intellectual Disability
> 53. Psychological Assessment had revealed his Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ) to be 66 to 74. This is in the range of Mild Intellectual Disability suggested in [the American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association Publishing, 5th Ed, 2013) (“DSM-V”)].
> 54. Intellectual Disability requires the presence of functional disability as well and I am of the opinion that Mr Nagaenthran had functional disability in the conceptual domains and to a lesser extent in his social and practical domain
So we have a psychiatrist concluding that he was intellectually disabled (even if only "mildly" so), and met the DSM-5 criteria for both Severe ADHD and mild intellectual disability.
Given the reports concluding he was not intellectually disabled were procured by the government, one ought to question their independence. The only report produced independently of government concluded that he was. I think, to settle the question with sufficient confidence, one would really want someone respectable from overseas – such as a respected professor of psychiatry with a specialisation in intellectual disability – to review the case, but that was never sought. (I'm sure the Singaporean government could have arranged it if they had wanted to do so.)
> but its policies on drug enforcement is 100% consistent with just about every other country in its vicinity. In fact, had Nagaenthran been caught in his home country of Malaysia, he would be sentenced to death just the same, since Malaysia has pretty much the same laws on drug trafficking.
Malaysia currently has a moratorium on the death penalty, due to serious national debate (in which the government has been an active participant) on whether to abolish it, or at least significantly narrow its scope. That is a quite different situation from Singapore–unlike the Malaysian government, the Singaporean government has shown no signs of wanting to specifically encourage any public debate, or evolution of public opinion, on the topic.