In he stormed, or maybe sashayed<\/a>: charming politicians and community leaders, even those not against the death penalty; roping them in to gather signatures for the petition; speaking to hundreds on the streets, in wet markets, at a food centre; and singing to Yong\u2019s depressed, silent mother in her tiny flat. He reframed the devil incarnate perspective that his gleaming city-state so gleefully pushed: Yong was, like so many other mules, \u201ca victim of poverty, misguided youth and social conditions\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe Tamil Singaporean \u201cKampong boy\u201d, as his autobiography would later be titled, had, with his cherubic smile, infectious laugh, and deep compassion, brought succour to a despondent, fellow Malayan community. Legal and societal machinations followed, including amendments to Singapore\u2019s Misuse of Drugs Act\u2014all in concert with, if not necessarily in response to, his actions. And in 2013, Yong\u2019s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. It was an unprecedented outcome, even miraculous. Yong\u2019s mother greeted him with a big smile on his second visit to Sandakan.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n