THE NGUYEN COUNTDOWN

There are numerous articles in the newspapers today about the pending execution of heroin smuggler Nguyen Tuong Van in Singapore on Friday.

One , in The Age, by Melbourne writer Barbara Curzon-Siggers, appears under the headline: “I beseech you. Mr, Lee, think it possible you are mistaken.”

Mistaken about what? Nguyen was caught with nearly half a kilo of heroin that he had bought in Cambodia. Much of it was strapped to his body. The rest he recklessly tossed in his backpack. It was headed for the veins of heroin addicts in Australia. Twenty six thousand hits.

You may not agree with the death penalty. But the amount of muck Nguyen was trying to smuggle through Singapore made his death penalty mandatory. That is the law in that sovereign state. And he took the risk and he got caught.

Ms Curzon-Siggers makes some understandably emotional points. She writes:

“Early this Friday morning, I, like many, whether we are in our kitchens, in the gym, walking the dog, preparing breakfast for our children or beginning the day at work, will stop to hold in my thoughts a 25-year-old Australian as he takes his last breath and has his last vision of this earth”. Nice emotional prose. She also talks about “ keeping vigil” and “bearing witness” for a heroin smuggler.

And I wonder if she has been so eloquent for heroin victims – addicted to smack – who have ended up in jail or ended up at the end of a rope by their own means. And you have heard parents who have found their suicidal children who hanged themselves on this programme recently.

Would she be so eloquent if her mother’s house had been ransacked by a heroin addict? Or if a defenceless grandmother was fatally bashed because a druggie wanted her handbag and her pension?

The newspapers are going overboard on this. The Herald Sun today says on Page One: Grim final treat for death row Aussie. Eight dollars last meal.

It says that Nguyen will be allowed to order a takeaway meal – including a hamburger and chips – up to the value of $8. I guess I could be heartless and ask why you would want to die on a full stomach.

Much has been made of the fact that Nguyen’s mother can only have contact visits through a plate glass screen. That security measure applies in many countries. Even the United States where executions are sanctioned in more than 30 states.

The biggest question here is why Singapore should change or amend its laws because the convicted criminal is Australian. They won’t and they shouldn’t.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2005