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article-article-bodyToday we’re heartbroken for the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and extended families of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who will live with grief for the rest of their lives. Our thoughts are with their friends, lawyers and everyone who has come to know, support and love them in the past 10 years.
We stand united against the death penalty — in every country and for everyone.
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The two drug runners stood to gain a lot of money from their activities. The reason they stood to gain such wealth is the Indonesian death penalty for drug smuggling. They gambled, they lost. I feel for their families, but not for them.
No politician wants to be seen as “soft on drugs”. The aggressive stance of Abbott,Shorten,Milne et al virtually assured the death penalty was carried out.
Next time this happens, politicians should quietly offer their representations to the Indonesian government in respectful tones, as is their duty as representatives of the two Australians. A little self-examination would go a long way. Would our current pathetic crop of parliamentarians enjoy being called “soft on drugs” in the press? Wouldn’t such an attribute harm their electoral chances?
Why are our politicians so dumb?
Zeke, you are missing the point. We don’t mourn for what they once were, but for the profound loss of the fine young men that they became.
We should also mourn for the path on which the weak and insecure Indonesian President has placed his country. This mindless belief in capital punishment will inevitably lead to the execution of Indonesian citizens working as indentured (ie effectively slave) labour in other counties.
And I hope people will spare a thought for the execution squad. They probably aren’t familiar with the fundamentalist Protestant tradition of ‘singing home’ a dying person. The sight and sound of condemned men singing hymns (as they apparently did until death) must have been very confronting.
NO ONE has the right to take the life of another person, full stop!
If you go right back to the beginning of this saga ten years ago, the people with MOST blood on their hands are those members of the AFP who put these young men in such dire circumstances.
Of course Andrew and Myuran deserved appropriate punishment for their crime, but this was way over the top. They could have been arrested on their return to Australia, and faced this country’s much more sensible laws. After all, they were taking drugs OUT of Indonesia, not IN. So the potential damage to Indonesian citizens was nil.
I feel so sad for their families and friends. They must now endure a life sentence. Just appalling!!
Where ever you are, remain for ever the inspiration we believe you have chosen respectively to become to us remaining d***head mortals who have much yet to learn – such as the confronting price of “face”, that rehabilitation provision of the Indonesian prison system ostensibly and absolutely shits on ours, and how stupid we whiteman are to sacrifice our authority to the crop of “umm and ahh’s” we now have.
Believer or not, no one will ever know if we ever meet but what is important to me is that you have left a legacy – those in “control” can enjoy the life they have chosen, in our terms a “living dead” – I am proud of you to have grasped the opportunity to make the choice you did.