Australia's
Unceasing drug flow
Trick is to stop its citizens bringing drugs into our region
and then protesting about tough punishment when they're
caught. By Seah Chiang Nee.
Nov 20, 2005
Unless
the trend is reversed, Canberra could one day become a major
supplier of drug traffickers for Southeast Asia that even
its mandatory death sentence could not stop.
In the
same way that Pakistan or Saudi Arabia are considered to
be a source to produce Islamic militants to the world.
And
heavens forbid if that should happen, Australian leaders
would then have a busy time running around persuading the
region's governments to go easy on criminals.
More
important is the potential friction between Canberra, which
bars capital punishment and countries like Indonesia, Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand etc, which have tough lasw against drugs,
including mandatory death for trafficking.
Two
facts make it a potentially explosive issue if the two sides
were to handle it wrongly.
1.
Many Australians have little faith in the courts and the
administration of justice in Southeast Asia, and
2.
They passionately believe that Australians should not be
'humiliated" or punished by developing countries who
may be corrupt or inefficient. There is a widespread denial
mood, arguing the accused are somehow the victims of circumstances.
Besides,
the Canberra government and the people do not regard drug
taking or trafficking as seriously as the their counterparts
in Southeast Asia.
Explaining
Australia's concerns, one Australian wrote:
"A factor contributing to concern about the death
penalty in ASEAN is the failure of ASEAN governments to
release information about judicial executions carried
out in their countries. In several of the countries executions
have been carried out in secret. The lack of official
statistics means that the true number of executions remains
unknown. There is also very little public information
about prisoners currently on death row in the majority
of the countries."
Ultimately,
the problem lies in the rising number of Australians who
deal in drugs or use them in the region. They are available
and cheap. Some resort to traffic them in Australia or Europe.
One
of them, naturalised Australian Nguyen Tuong Van, was caught
in Singapore, admitted to the crime and was sentenced to
be hanged on Dec 2.
Earlier
a group known as the 'Bali Nine' was charged (with three
facing death sentence) in Indonesia while two other Australian
drug traffickers are on death row in Vietnam.
Other
recent cases:
*
A Bali court found Australian model Michelle Leslie
guilty of using ecstasy and sentenced her to three months
jail, a period of custody she has already served.
*
Another Australian lady Schapelle Corby is serving
a 20-year jail term for drug smuggling.
*
Australian mine worker, John Michael Kelly, 45,
arrested in East Kalimantan in September for allegedly using
methamphetamine could spend the next five years in jail.
*
Australian nurse has been arrested after allegedly
trying to carry 3.2kg of heroin across the Swiss-Italian
border.
*
Former school teacher Graham Clifford Payne, 20,
Adelaide, was arrested in Medan in August with a pouch full
of methaphetamines and could be jailed for 20 years.
*
A Sydney man, 30 arrived in Italy from Venezuela
reported with 10 km of high-quality cocaine hidden in false
bottoms of his luggage. He was arrested while preparing
to board a flight to Turkey and faces 20 years in prison
Latest:
Meanwhile there are two other Australians on death row
in Vietnam (two were previously given clemency), one in
China, the Bali nine facing trial in Indonesia, a total
of 228 Australians facing trial in 60 nations and 175
convicted and serving sentences
Yet
as an Australian blogger says they are still doing it.
He adds:-
"Any Australian who gets arrested in another
country on drug related charges now, after the goings
on in Indonesia in the past year, would have to be pretty
damned stupid, and totally blind to the world happening
around them, more specifically, the perils of being a
drug-trafficker or user. It's ridiculous for anybody to
think that Australian travellers aren't being scrutinised
or singled-out by Customs in other countries.."
In a letter to Jakarta Post, Indonesian Y.Saputra said
he hoped "the Australian government should do more
to prevent its citizens from trafficking drugs to Indonesia".
Other, he added, Australians would continue to remain
in jail or face the death sentence.
By Seah Chiang Nee
