Sridhar Vembu, the co-founder of the cloud software business Zoho on Monday, took to the social media platform 'X' to provide his suggestions for governance to Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister Joseph Vijay, recommending a death penalty for high-level corruption and drug dealing.
The software entrepreneur stated in his post that he was "an ardent fan of" Singapore's former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who had instituted similar policies in the island nation after coming to power.
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"One of the suggestions I have for our Honourable Chief Minister Joseph Vijay is to consider Singapore like laws on drug dealing and high level corruption. Singapore awards the death penalty for drug dealing and for high level corruption. They do enforce these laws," Vembu stated.
One of the suggestions I have for our Honourable Chief Minister Joseph Vijay is to consider Singapore like laws on drug dealing and high level corruption.
— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) August 23, 2026
Singapore awards the death penalty for drug dealing and for high level corruption. They do enforce these laws.
In the…
Vembu also argued for raising the pay for those in Ministerial positions and civil services offices such as IAS (Indian Administrative Services) and IPS (Indian Police Services). He added that any future corruption from those in these positions of power should incur the death penalty.
"Raising the pay is equally important and we should declare an amnesty for past sins so we do not endlessly debate the past," Zoho's former CEO (chief executive officer) stated.
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The chief scientist of Zoho Corp. opined that this should be enforced by courts after undertaking the prerequisite review and processes. He also said that this should not lead to a "30-year delay".
"Singapore courts are very efficient and we can learn from them," Vembu said.
"I have been an ardent fan of Lee Kuan Yew my entire adult life and I have read every one of his speeches! We must study his approach," he added.
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