Blind and barbaric

I have to write something, however brief, about the killing of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.  These two men were part of the Bali Nine arrested over ten years ago for drug offences, put on trial in Indonesian courts and eventually sentenced to death.

Over the decade, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran had welcomed help and had reformed themselves.  Andrew Chan had become a Christian, a leader and a peacemaker in the prison.  Myuran Sukumaran had become an artist and a man of good counsel, teaching and producing meaningful art works.  They were Australian citizens.

By the end of the decade there was no sensible reason left to execute them, if there ever was.  They had become good citizens.  They had deeply regretted their crimes and had amended their lives.  Much media coverage of them showed clearly that they had taken leave of criminality. 

There never was any sensible reason to judicially execute them, or anyone – except that the president and the government of Indonesia needed above all to demonstrate a hard line on drugs.  You deal in drugs, you get caught, we will kill you.  So these two, along with six others, were this morning taken out and put to death by firing squads.  (The ninth, a woman, got a reprieve at the last minute because her evidence may be needed against someone else.  How appalling is that.)  This was all done in the face of widespread international protest including pleas from several governments, and intense media coverage, right up to the sound of the gunshots. 

Capital punishment is unsupportable and has been wiped off the statute books of many countries for years.  There are better ways to deal with gross criminal guilt.  But for many the need for vengeance prevails.  What Indonesia did was unnecessary, blind, barbaric.