I believe that it is important to keep the plight of six of the Bali Nine to the forefront, as is being done by setting up the new group ‘Australians Against Capital Punishment. ‘
Many people worked long, and hard to have the death sentence on Nguyen Tuong Van commuted, but, as explained in this article, action by Australians generally was too little and too late - let us not make the same mistake again and keep up the pressure on the Australian government to address the issue more transparently.
The government may be doing all they can, but it is important that we are given more detailed information on what is being done, by whom and with what result.
That diplomacy and discretion be used when approaching the Indonesian Government is a given, but those of us committed to doing what we can to help deserve to be kept in the loop and given updated information, not fobbed off with patronising comments.
Too little and it could well be too late - again - if we don’t keep up the pressure.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/editorial...311102197.html
>>How Australia failed failed Nguyen Tuong Van
December 1, 2005
Page 1 of 2
THE case of Nguyen Tuong Van has exposed both the depth of public feeling against the death penalty and the shallowness of government action on capital punishment. Of course, the Australian Government has worked hard in recent weeks to try to save Nguyen, and for that it deserves credit. However, it is too little, and too late. Australia should have been campaigning against capital punishment much earlier, much more widely and more strongly. Australia now finds itself with limited credibility on the issue; it has no significant track record internationally as an active opponent of the death penalty, much as it now likes to trumpet its opposition and publicly condemn the practice....<<
Too little and it could well be too late - again
