Dear Sir,
The demise of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran is no doubt tragic. Tragic in the sense that young men have lost their lives in entirely unavoidable circumstances. Unavoidable in the sense that not only did they know the potential consequences of their original actions and chose to proceed, but that an emerging economy and society like Indonesia should be examining alternative means of punishment for such crimes. What is also a tragedy is the impact the drug trade has on societies, both in Australia and Indonesia, and the fact that discourse on this front has taken a back seat to the emotionally charged, ratings-fuelled media circus surrounding these executions.
Indonesia’s action has been labelled ‘cold-blooded murder’ (Carmel Guppy, Girawheen) and ‘state-sanctioned murder’ (Tasmanian Greens Leader, Kim Booth). It is neither. It is a sovereign nation carrying out its judicial process, as it has a right to do. We need to remember that and not get lost in the emotion. A better example of cold-blooded, state-sanctioned murder is the loss of 27 Australians – innocent, mind you – blown out of the sky last year over Ukraine as they flew home from holidays and business trips. Was the Australian Ambassador to Russia recalled? It might be hard, but let’s try some perspective.
