Punishment of drug traffickers
Punishment of drug traffickers
I refer to Pardede's letter Please save their lives in The
Jakarta Post on Dec. 12.
Pardede is absolutely right when she states that "we should
abide by the laws of a country" that we visit. This most
certainly also applies to the nine Australian drug traffickers
who, being obviously mature in years though not necessarily in
mind, deliberately entered Indonesia bringing drugs, even though
they must have known perfectly well in advance that Indonesia,
like its neighbor Singapore, punishes drug trafficking, a heinous
crime against humanity, with the death penalty.
And even though the drug traffickers may ultimately be
forgiven for their deliberate flaunting and breaking of the law,
they most certainly have to face the impact, the outcome and the
results of their choices and decisions -- namely, the
consequences of their illegal actions.
If a young child who has been warned by his parents of the
harmful effects of touching fire deliberately disobeys, and
touches the fire anyway, then the child will be forgiven by the
understanding parents -- but will still experience the painful
consequences of touching the fire, namely, the burns and the
blisters.
Being forgiven will not cancel out the consequences of our
actions. This is a life lesson that can be found in all religious
books, a lesson all of us human beings of all ages will
eventually learn, sooner or later.
As an Indonesian who is appalled by the horrible effects of
narcotics such as ecstasy and heroin on people, especially young
people, I applaud and support the efforts of the Indonesian and
Singaporean governments in upholding their strict drug laws.
Pardede seems to be absolutely sure about the repentance of
the drug traffickers when she stated: "Once they are imprisoned
they will suffer enough and will reform themselves." Does she
know them that well, I wonder?
As for God's Law that we should not kill: If a human so
forgets his "brotherhood" with fellow humans as to commit
grievous crimes, and thereby endangers the lives of countless
other humans, then a "change of dimension" might be appropriate
for him in order to save the lives of countless others.
If these nine law-breakers from Australia are eventually
convicted and sentenced to a "change of dimension", then
hopefully, perhaps in the next dimension or in a next
reincarnation, their immortal souls will become staunch advocates
against the use of narcotics. They can then emphatically state,
with justifiable pride: We've been there. We've done that. It
just doesn't pay!
TAMI KOESTOMO, Bogor, West Java