Britain’s Branson turns down Singapore’s offer to debate death penalty: ‘it reduces nuanced discourse to sound bites’

The Virgin Group founder said he had felt ‘compelled to speak out’ about executions in the city state after the hanging of Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam

But he declined Singapore’s invitation to take part in a televised discussion on the subject as he felt it would turn ‘serious debate into spectacle’

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British billionaire Richard Branson urged Singapore Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam to engage local activists instead of holding a televised debate on the death penalty. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 1:01pm, 31 Oct 2022

British billionaire Richard Branson has declined the Singapore government’s invitation for a live televised debate over its approach towards drugs and the death penalty, as he urged Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam to engage local activists instead.

In a statement posted on his blog on Monday and addressed to Shanmugam, Branson said a televised debate “cannot do the complexity of the death penalty any service” as it “reduces nuanced discourse to sound bites” and “turns serious debate into spectacle”.

“I can’t imagine that is what you are looking for. What Singapore really needs is a constructive, lasting dialogue involving multiple stakeholders, and a true commitment to transparency and evidence,” Branson said.

Singapore had invited Branson to a televised debate on its use of the death penalty with Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam. Photo: AFP

The Ministry of Home Affairs had on October 22 rebutted several statements made by the Virgin Group’s founder regarding Singapore’s drug laws.

It also invited him to Singapore – with his flight and accommodation fully paid for – to take part in a live televised debate with Shanmugam.

Branson had claimed in an earlier post that Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, who was executed on April 27 for drug trafficking, had been hanged despite having a “well-documented intellectual disability”.

In his latest post, Branson said he felt “compelled to speak out when I see things go as horribly wrong as Singapore’s use of the death penalty” out of his “enormous respect for Singapore and Singaporeans and for everything your country has achieved over the last decades”.