Peter Greste is out of jail, out of Egypt, and back home. That is a triumph and a relief. His conviction and imprisonment was an absurdity and the campaign to free him an example of national solidarity at its best. Support for him was global, but Australians went the extra mile for one of their own citizens.
The same support has not been shown for the Bali Nine. Yes, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran committed a real crime, rather than a made-up one, but their punishment is also far greater than Greste’s.
Yesterday they were told the final appeal to save their lives would not be accepted by the Denpasar district court and they would be shot dead by an Indonesian firing squad. This is horrifying news.
This morning Tony Abbott said at a press conference that his government would not engage in “last-minute megaphone diplomacy” to save the pair. No one asked him why not, or what message this comment was sending to Indonesia. The PM said that he had left no stone unturned in his advocacy to save the pair. No one asked what has been done, or why Julie Bishop was not in Jakarta right now.
Why not?
Why haven’t more Australians voiced their outrage and disgust that this sentence will be carried out? Are people held back from overt protests because they fear this may disadvantage the two? Or because they are chastened about a First World country protesting against the actions of a Third World one?
At this late stage, neither of those objections to a vocal campaign are sufficient. Nor is debate about the nature of their crimes pertinent.
We should not turn away from action because the situation is so bleak for Chan and Sukumaran. And nor should we give up hope. By campaigning against this state killing, we are also laying the ground for a campaign against the next.
The Australian Government are so thoroughly compromised by our own Human Rights record that they dare not speak out about these two young men who are facing execution- pointless political execution.
Perhaps afraid of stirring the ire of the Indonesian government- after the territorial incursions and lack of respect shown to Indonesia by boat pushbacks?
The Indonesian Govt deliberately take a life while the Australian govt allow Guards and Local Manusians to murder a man in their care, neglect another until death and sit and watch as a third man is slowly starving himself to death rather than face a life in an Australian Hell camp or return to torture by the mullahs. NEITHER GOVT ARE ANY BETTER THAN THEY OUGHT TO BE.
Perhaps also there are right wingers in the LIBS who would endorse capital punishment if they felt it would reap a few votes.
Joko Widodo became Indonesian President a mere three months ago. It was a close election result and he would be keen to establish his resolve & credibility with the populace. His views on drug dealing/smuggling are hardline & well known – what are the chances he’d backtrack by making exceptions.
I think the operative word is “megaphone”. What that means Crikey is that the government is not going to broadcast what it is saying to the Indonesians so you lot can critique it unfavourably from the sidelines.
Not as far as I’m concerned.
They’re not “drug mules” innocent dupes of criminal masterminds – these are the ORGANISERS of a heroin import business. They ARE the masterminds, the archetypical capitalists and free-market entrepreneurs who do not care what the effects of their marketing strategy & product are to their customers.
I’m not in favour of re-introducing the death penalty here in Oz, but they had a fair trial in a nation which considers this to be a capital crime.
Shoot them and piss on the corpses.
As someone who believes that all drugs should be legal and that people are free to go to hell in their chosen way as long as they don’t expect me to help pay for their ticket (as I currently do with the Drug Wank)I agree with Miowarra Tomokatu@4.