New solutions for drug offenses

Jacinta Hannaford, Melbourne

Imagine your child is about to be executed and you were not given the chance to say a proper goodbye.

Nguyen Van Tuong, 25, was executed by hanging on Dec. 2. His mother was not even allowed to hug him goodbye. All she could do was hold his hand and touch his face before the hanging in Singapore.

More and more young people are getting busted for drug related crimes. Indonesia certainly has a fair share of such people.

Trying to come up with reasons why someone would do something so desperate as to try to traffic drugs is beyond many people's imagination.

Stronger than a need to understand why someone would risk their life, is the sadness we feel for people like Nguyen.

Yes, what he and countless other people have been convicted for is a crime. They should be punished for moving narcotics across international borders, or for being in possession of an illegal drug.

But how about a little human compassion? Killing someone for being in possession of drugs hardly seems justifiable. Two wrongs just do not make a right.

And now a young man's life is gone, not only because of his wrong judgment, but also because of a punishment that is much too harsh.

Nguyen was about my age when he was executed. How could he have been so stupid? Instead, I wonder how I would feel if I was in his shoes.

I have not even started to live life yet. There is just so much I have not done. I have not launched a successful career yet, I have never owned a home, I have never been married, and I have not had children yet. I have not even completed my degree.

Nguyen will never be able to do any of these things. He was denied his life.

Imagine if your life had been cut short 20 or so years ago. You would not have been able to experience everything that you have today, everything you want your children to live through someday.

All the lives that you are connected to -- your family, your friends -- would have been ruined. They would have been tormented by your death if it had been you who was executed.

This is why I do not understand how people can promote capital punishment and see it as a good thing.

Of course, if Nguyen had succeeded, no doubt the drugs would have ruined countless other lives.

This leaves me in two minds. It distresses me that his life was treated so flippantly. He had to die for a mistake he made. What gives a government the right to play God? I am not religious, but it does seem wrong for a human to decide if another human lives or dies.

I can understand Australia's anger toward Singapore. After all, Nguyen was an Australian citizen. Australia feels it has the right to determine the sentence of one of its own people.

On the other hand, I do not think a country has the right to tell another country how to govern itself. Neither should Australia be able to tell Singapore who they can and cannot convict.

Australia seems to think everything can be solved by a boycott. An Australian man was executed in Singapore. Boycott Singapore! Several Australians are being held in jail in Bali. Boycott Bali!

All this does is ruin the economy. It does not change the law. It is almost a form of terrorism; hurt the civilians to make a statement to the government.

Obviously this is an issue that is riddled with many problems. While it is not fair for the Australian people to suggest a boycott on Singapore, capital punishment is just not right.

Killing someone, on whatever pretext, is immoral, whether it is a government or an individual that does it.

Perhaps countries with capital punishment need to look for a different solution. Clearly the threat of death is not a deterrent, and it is just a waste of lives.

Or maybe it is up to Australia to be more proactive about keeping its citizens away from drug related convictions, such as by increasing antidrug campaigns.

Instead of blaming other countries for jailing their own people, Australians need to ask themselves why there are so many of their people in jails throughout the world due to drugs.

If they cannot change another country, they can at least try to change themselves.

The writer is a student at Melbourne University, studying Media and Communications. She can be reached at jdhannaford@hotmail.com.