Saintly Drug Smugglers

[Gob]

The prime minister, Tony Abbott, has said a decision by the Australian Catholic University to create two scholarships named after executed drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran was “open to profound questions”.

The university said the scholarships, for Indonesian students to study in Australia, would provide full tuition fees over four years and would be awarded on the basis of an essay on the topic of “the sanctity of human life”.

“While I deplore what happened this week, I absolutely deplore what happened ... by the same token there can be no truck with drug trafficking,” Abbott said in an interview on 2GB Friday.

He said the scholarships “send a very unusual message, it is, if I may say so, an odd thing for a university to do, particularly for an institution that is supposed to stand up for the best values.”

“I know part of Christian faith is forgiveness but another part of Christian faith is calling people to be their best selves ... whether that justifies what has apparently been done is open to profound questions.”

Announcing the scholarships, the university’s vice-chancellor, Prof Greg Craven, said in a statement “in a small but symbolic way, the writing by Indonesian students on the sanctity of life would be an ongoing contribution toward the eventual abolition of the death penalty in Indonesia”.

“The scholarships would be a fitting tribute to the reformation, courage and dignity of the two men,” he said.

Before being executed on Wednesday Chan and Sukumaran called for a campaign to abolish the death penalty across the world.


http://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne ... -questions

[Lord Jim]

Before being executed on Wednesday Chan and Sukumaran called for a campaign to abolish the death penalty across the world.

Well color me shocked...

[MajGenl.Meade]

Pity they didn't call for the abolition of drug dealers - which Indonesia and Singapore seem to have a handle on.

[rubato]

The lure of the bathetic is strong.


yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

...and that's why we invaded Iraq the second time!

[BoSoxGal]

The death penalty SHOULD be abolished world wide, but if it MUST exist, it shouldn't exist for non violent crime.

[rubato]

And apostasy. Violent crimes and apostasy. We're a Christian nation after all!


yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

Right, heroin is well known to be non-violent. "Death to Drug Smugglers" - it's printed on the immigration cards for crying out loud. I'm sorry these two were greedy enough to ignore the warning and that they suffered the extreme penalty. But they didn't need to die - they chose to do what brought the advertised penalty.

Maybe it will dissuade some other young guys and gals from taking the same path. But that's their choice too.

Myself, I wouldn't advocate "Death for Drug Smugglers" as a new policy for the USA. Death by life imprisonment without privileges is much preferable IMO.