It's been 3 months since my last blog entry and during that time the Australian government has been equally as silent on the issue of the death penalty. Yesterday, at midnight, the three convicted terrorists, Amrozi, Ali Ghufron and Imam Samudra were executed by firing squad in Indonesia.
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"A memorial to honour them, bombs to avenge them, terrorists to share glory with them"
- Julian McMahon
As soon as the news broke, there was sadness, ambivolence, relief and mourning. The news flashed with horrific montages and graphic retellings of the explosions. Once again salt is poured over a wound that has taken years to even begin healing. The three unrepetant terrorists will no longer taunt us with their defiant smiles, but they have succeeded in leaving a legacy of pain and suffering long after their violent deed has concluded. They have now been enshrined as martyrs in the eyes of some, when they should have been left to disappear into obscurity. Now they will exist as a rally point for future extremist activities, their names will no doubt be the catchcry for the next generation of ignorance and hate. I'm worried that the saddest chapter in this saga is yet to come, as the Bali Bombers legacy grows popularity and results in even more suffering. I sincerely hope that this isn't the case, but there can be no doubt that the execution has created sympathy for them amongst some Indonesians. If the Bali Bombers had been left to die imprisoned, they would have been forgotten, lonely old men who were never given the opportunity to become martyrs.
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"I will not beg for their lives to be spared. But I seek that which I consider more appropriate. A penalty which will serve as a constant reminder to others. A penalty which will not destroy the lives of their families"
- Brian Deegan
Further, the painful issue would not have resurfaced so heavily in the media, their faces would not have been plastered over ever newspaper and headlines, their exploits not retold so graphically. The suffering of the victims families is now twofold as they are forced to try to seek closure all over again, while dealing with the news suggesting that there is some support for the bombers in Indonesia, with crowds at their funeral. One of the
fathers of an Australian victim made it clear that he just wanted to entire horror story put to rest, and that now the executions have occurred, he can finally forget the pain and focus on the healing. He suggested that any families seeking closure from the execution would likely be disappointed and find that the only thing that has changed is three more corpses on the pile, and the lives of three more families irrevocably changed for the worse.
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"A retreat from principal to political opportunism"
- Colin McDonald QC
I'm furious that the Rudd Government has remained totally silent the last 2 weeks as momentum builds towards the execution of the Bali Bombers. Their silence indicates their unwillingness to adhere to their international obligations and their own values. It shows me that Rudd is a politician first and a man of principal second, and it's for this reason that silence came first, and then, after the execution, principals second.
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"When civilised societies reject the death penalty... they declare they do not measure the worth of human lives by the same scale that such men do. It is a repudiation of the logic of terrorism."
- Editorial, The Age
Meanwhile, much like in Van Nguyen's case so many years ago, the Asian press are rediculing our inconsisitent policy to the death penalty. When Howard supported the execution of Saddam Hussein by saying he wouldn't shed any tears for the dictator, the Singaporean media jumped on his words and hypocrisy for showing double standards when it came to non-australians. Now, the Rudd Government have gone one peg lower, they've been too cowardly to even make their values known until after the fact. I'd rather our government be vocal about their values rather than behaving like a snake in the grass, only rearing its head when the trigger has already been pulled. Their silence is even more damaging in context with past comments made by not only Howard, but Downer - "I wouldn't weep for people who have killed 88 Australians if they were executed. I can't pretend otherwise" and even Rudd "They deserve the justice that will be delivered to them. They are murderers, they are mass murderers, and they are also cowards."
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"Wherever we are not consistent, the Asian press accuses us of being hypocritical. They ask why should there be one rule for Australians and a different rule for non-Australians?"
- Julian McMahon
Perhaps even more close to home is the massive risk our inconsistency has created for the final 3 of the Bali Nine on death row. Scott Rush, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. Their chances of gaining a reprieve from their impending executions is now severely limited and the impact of any appeal from the Australian Government will seem impotent at best.
At least now the Government can move on from their political pandering and the families can truly begin healing without any more death or suffering plaguing the healing process.
