Serial Killers Marrying Drug Dealers....

I am not sure that this is an only in Indonesia scenario, but this particular story is out of Indonesia. Yet, no matter, as the very idea is worthy of a blog post.

It appears that Verry Idham Henyahsyah, aka Ryan, who came to fame as a gay serial killer sentenced to death for the murder of 11 people, is not set to get married to a woman. It is all a little weird but, then again, not so weird. It is not unheard of gay men to marry women for myriad of different reasons. I think this is a little weird because Ryan was sentenced to death for his crimes and is awaiting execution in Kesambi Prison in Cirebon.

The weirdness for me is a personal one. I have never really understood why women meet, fall in love and ultimately want to (or do) marry men on death row. I guess I just need to read a little more widely, I am sure the literature is out there somewhere.

Ryan argues that marrying the recently released drug dealer, Eny Wijaya, fits his personal philosophy that marriages is the process of regenerating life. Maybe I need to read more widely on the nature and nurture debate as it relates to serial killers; are they born or bred?

The other reason Ryan feels it necessary for him as an openly gay man to marry a woman is that it would makes his mother happy. It seems Ryan's mum really wants him to get married.

Normally, people would want to wish you a long, happy, and fruitful marriage together, but I wonder what is the "right" thing to say to a fellow that is sitting on death row with respect to marriage? Let's face it, he might not know the exact date of his death, but Ryan does know that the final walk to the firing squad is going to happen, and it is going to happen sooner rather than later.

Ho hum...

Sperm Smuggling

A murderer has been able to smuggle his sperm out of jail and have it transported interstate and then inseminated into his girlfriend. The girlfriend has then become pregnant and given birth to a son. Are congratulations in order here?

The NSW prison security system at one particular jail obviously leaves a little to be desired. However, any security system is only as good as the people who work in it or run it, and in this case it seems that neither worked well. The jail cannot be identified according to reports. Nevertheless, word of mouth will probably see the identity of both the jail and murdered concerned revealed at some point.

This kind of breach usually sees heads roll, and this case has been no exception with three members of the prison management team being stood down. A doctor and nurse have also been stood down. It is alleged that the doctor and nurse were instrumental in the deed.

For those of you who are wondering, sperm can survive outside of the body for up to 48 hours if kept at body temperature. So, the actual smuggling of the sperm out of jail and keeping it viable is not so difficult if the security gods align in the right way. It seems that the gods aligned themselves in the right way for this murderer and his keen girlfriend.

Most office workers would be better off in prison

I have gotta say that I rarely cut and past full articles of things that I find on the Internet.

This is not because of copyright (although perhaps I should be more conscious of this) but because it is not usually the case I need the whole piece to illustrate a point.

This "opinion" piece is written by Nury Vittachi. Nury is the writer of the "Travellers' Tales" column in the Far Eastern Economic Review (or at least was at one time).

This particular opinion piece was published in the Jakarta Post here.

The whole opinion piece sounds like a sociological study waiting to happen. My view is that Nury should volunteer to spend a couple of weeks or a month in prison. This would give him a valuable insight to what prison is really like.

He then could write a follow-up piece titled, "Why Office Workers Are Better Off Not in Prison".

My guess is that if a prisoner is waving at you through the bars and giving you the full salute with something other than his hand then this is likely not something that is indicative of happiness but a gentlemen with no other outlets to express himself. Although, Nury states that looking through the bars helped to put his life into perspective. I am hoping that perspective is that no matter how much working in an office might suck, it sure as hell beats doing a stint in prison.

Nope, I somehow doubt that as an office worker I would prefer to be in prison.

Anyway, my view is that this Nury taking the piss, a tongue in cheek look at the things he hates about his office. Nevertheless, it is called an opinion piece and it follows here in full:

I used to live near a prison. There was a guy on the top floor who used to wave his hand at me through the bars. Actually, it wasn't just his hand.

But the thing that struck me was that he always looked so happy. For some reason, this annoyed me intensely. I wanted to shout:you: Stop being happy." But then I realized that I would sound like my former employers, who were always hollering that at me.

Looking through the barred windows as I walked past, I absorbed numerous lessons which helped me put my life into perspective.

In prison, he spends most of his time confined to a space measuring three meters by three metres.

At the office, I spend most of my time confined to a cubicle measuring 1.5 meters by 1.5 meters.

In prison, he gets a healthy, early night every night.

At the office, I work late so often I'll probably end up with an ulcer.

In prison, he gets time off for good behavior.

At the office, I get extra work assignments for good behavior.

In prison, he gets all the food and drink he needs prepared for him by trained catering staff, three times a day, seven days a week.

At the office, I can help myself to free water from the water cooler.

In prison, he can watch television and read through a library of books.

At the office, I'll get sacked if I get caught watching a clip on YouTube.

In prison, he'll spend a lot of time in quiet contemplation about the important things in life.

In the office, mindless inconsequential activity fills my every second.

In prison, he gets a toilet to himself.

At the office, I share a toilet with a building-full of people less toilet-trained than my pets.

At the office, I spend more money than I can afford making sure my clothing matches that of my colleagues.

In prison, everyone gets free, color co-ordinated outfits.

In prison, there are sadistic, evil creatures called warders who will torment him.

In office life, there are sadistic, evil creatures called employers who torment me.

In prison, one's working days are short and sweet.

In my working life, I arrive at the office before the sun has risen and leave after it's dark.

In prison, he doesn't have to take work home with him.

In my job, I arrive every morning with a fat briefcase and leave with a fatter one.

In prison, he never has to worry about paying bills for utilities and other things.

In the life of a modern office-worker, I worry about paying bills all the time.

At the office, I spend hours every day wading through a sea of spam.

In prison, he just gets one small square of Spam a week, on Tuesdays, with a side salad.

In my work life, I pay a fortune for a gym membership, but never have time to go.

In prison, the gym is free and he has plenty of incentive to keep himself in good shape, especially when taking a shower.

In my office life, I often feel pressured to be in three different places at once.

In prison, this is probably not really an issue.

The writer is a journalist and columnist. He can be reached at www.vittachi.com

Crime In Singapore

Singapore is often promoted as a "fine" city with just about every little indiscretion resulting in a potential fine. However, it would seem that Singapore is just not producing enough bad boys and girls to warrant the continued construction of two more prisons within the Changi Prison Complex.

This sounds like Singapore would be a good place to live, particularly if you are interested in places with a low crime rate and seemingly a safe place live, work, and raise a family. The problem though, at least as it appears, is that Singapore has an aging population. Aside from not producing enough criminals to fill its prisons, Singapore may have to embark on a more aggressive approach to get Singaporeans to procreate or facilitate greater numbers of immigrants arriving in the island State.

There are just 11,768 prisoners in Singapore at the moment. This is apparently a ten-year low that is to get lower still. So, if the crime rate is projected to fall even further then the numbers of new prisoners coming into the system is likely to be a lot less than any new prisoners coming into the system. This falling crime rate is reflected in the statistics which show that crime per 100,000 people fell from 974 occurrences in 1997 to 696 in 2007. It seems that recidivism rates are also falling which means less former prisoners are returning to the system. The recidivism rate has dropped from 50% in 1997 to about 25% in 2005.

I was in Singapore a week or so ago. I have always felt particularly safe wandering around the streets of Singapore late at night or in the wee hours of the morning. I do not mind going to Singapore every now and then as a means of escaping the chaos that is Jakarta. It is nice to be able to take air-conditioned public transport like buses and the MRT, walk around on well-maintained footpaths, have cars stop at red lights and pedestrian crossings, and generally to be able to wander around without the "hey mister" thing following me everywhere! However, after a few days of order it is also always nice to get back to the chaos that is Jakarta.