25,000 sign Took petition(
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/104116.asp // Thursday, March 2, 2006)
Convicted murderer's parents, wife hopeful he will be granted clemency - Lin Yanqin
IT HAS been more than a month since Took Leng How failed in his appeal against his conviction for the murder of eight-year-old Huang Na.
But the hope that Took will be spared the gallows has not abated.
In fact, with the help of Took's aunt and a few sympathetic people in Singapore, Took's parents and wife say they have collected about 25,000 signatures on a clemency petition to date.
Took's lawyer, Mr Subhas Anandan, is hopeful that double that number of signatures could help his client get clemency.
"I don't think that the public has ever shown support to such an extent before," said Mr Anandan. "The signatures will show what a portion of Singaporeans think."
The rare split decision at the Court of Appeals on Took's sentence could also play a significant part. Chief Justice Yong Pung How and Justice Chao Hick Tin dismissed Took's appeal against the death sentence, but Justice Kan Ting Chiu disagreed with them, the first time such a split had happened in 10 years.
Disagreeing with the actual cause of Huang Na's death, Justice Kan felt that Took should only be convicted of the offence of voluntarily causing hurt, which carries a maximum jail term of one year.
But the Court of Appeals carried through the decision on the two-to-one majority. Despite this, Took's parents are hopeful that Justice Kan's words will have some weight when the clemency appeal goes to the President.
The records show that only six people sentenced to death have been granted clemency since 1965. The last time clemency was granted was in 1998, when then-President Ong Teng Cheong pardoned a 19-year-old youth who was sentenced to death for murder, commuting his sentence to life imprisonment.
Mathavakannan Kalimuthu had pleaded that he had had no intention to kill, and had submitted a petition accompanied by five letters, including one from his mother.
Took's family and their supporters will continue to gather signatures for another two months before submitting the petition in May.
"Anywhere there's a lot of people, we will go," said Took's aunt, who declined to be named. "There have been people who have said nasty things, but a lot of people have been very kind and supportive."
The group have staked out temples, MRT stations and HDB estates to gather signatures. Apart from locals, they have also got the signatures of foreigners from China, Indonesia and Malaysia.
"A lot of people have been calling me, telling me that they want to help, and I even heard something about putting this petition on the Internet," said Took's aunt, who is in her 70s.
"I get their signatures if I can, but if they are overseas, I can't do much."
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