I would say that perl uses semicolon to divide/split statements, more as a 'statement separator' than 'statement end' (i.e. neither to end nor to start statements).

I'd have to disagree here. You can still end that last statement with a semi-colon (I would consider it good practice to do so infact, much like commas in list assignments), but perl manages to guess where you have omitted the statement ender. I see the semicolon much like a period in english. If you looked at a improperly spaced sentence, you could come to the conclusion that a period starts a sentence, because "most of the sentences have a period in front". But of course, a period ends a sentence =].

Since this is a matter of personal style, aka opinion, it's kind of pointless to try to change your mind or you change my mind, I just wanted to reply with my view point, which I'll reiterate to try to make myself clear: A semicolon *ends* a statement. It tells perl "this is the end of my statement". Therefor, it belongs at the end. =]