melbournesnapshots

I remember the day Ronald Ryan was hanged

To me, Ronald Ryan was portrayed (by the media)  as the worst of criminals. I believed it at the time. I believed that he deserved to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. short of execution.  I also remember the deep feelings that Ronald Ryan's hanging had on so many Australians who watched helplessly as the "last man hanged in Australia", met his death. I have thought about Ronald Ryan and his barbaric death many many times over the years... and not once has there ever been a time when I didn't think that all of us were that much less human for executing him.

It is just unthinkable that we will now be put through the experience of standing by helplessly whilst those of us who do not believe in capital punishment, will suffer the pain of seeing another human put to death in such a barbaric manner.

Here are a few interesting lines from an article in todays Melbourne nespaper "The Age".

"Earlier, Mr Howard made his fifth personal appeal to Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Valletta - but says Singapore will not change its mind.

Mr Lee told Mr Howard that Singapore would not accept the jurisdiction of any International Court of Justice appeal against Nguyen's death penalty, making a challenge impossible.

Mr Howard has refused to bring the matter up formally at CHOGM as a matter for debate.

But both he and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark raised Nguyen's case informally with Mr Lee today, pleading with him to spare his life.

"I did have quite a discussion with him and he was left in no doubt as to the intensity of feeling within Australia," Mr Howard told reporters.

"I did not get the indication that the Singapore government was going to change its position in any way in relation to the decision to go ahead with the execution."

Nguyen's supporters have called for a consumer boycott of Singaporean-owned companies, including Optus, if the execution goes ahead.

(The above paragraph refers to the possibility of Australian's boycotting Optus which is 100% owned by SingTel - Singapore Telecom)

Mr Howard has previously refused to endorse boycotts but said he had told Mr Lee repercussions would be likely.

"I have an obligation to explain to the government of Singapore that there will be lingering resentment on the part of many Australians regarding this issue," he said.

"They are certainly carefully monitoring what is occurring but I am equally of the view, as I have been now for some time, that the government of Singapore is not going to change its mind."

Mr Howard said he was sorry he had not been able to do more to spare Nguyen.

"I can promise you I've tried in all the appropriate ways to persuade them to do otherwise and I regret that I have been unsuccessful," he said.

"I'm sorry about that."

Ms Clark also made a case for clemency in informal talks today, raising her strong views against capital punishment.

She backed Mr Howard's handling of the case.

"I know that John Howard is doing absolutely everything he can about this case," Ms Clark said through a spokeswoman.

Some of Nguyen's closest friends left Australia today bound for Singapore, carrying messages of support and hope for the condemned man.

Mr Howard said he felt deeply sorry for Nguyen's mother and hoped she would convey his feelings to her son this week - but did not say whether he would be sending Nguyen a personal message.

"The best thing that I can do for that man is to be honest with his family and to show compassion towards his family, and I have done that," he said.

"I saw his mother without fanfare ... and I tried as best I could as a human being to comfort her, and I hope that that was of some assistance to her.

"That is the best thing that I can do."

Mr Howard said he had done his best to be honest with the family, to comfort them, and not to exploit the situation politically.

"I hope that's known to her son and if that is of some comfort to him, I'm pleased," he said.

"I don't think I can say much more on this issue. I have done my level best, and, if there are other opportunities, I will take advantage of them."

- AAP

Stop the Savagery - HERALD SUN EDITORIAL

The article reproduced in full below and accessible here is from Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper - it is an article that I think completely and utterly expresses how I am feeling at the moment. Who else out there agrees with the ideas and sentiments of this editorial?

Stop the savagery

27nov05

DRUG smuggling is among the most serious of crimes.

The poison these criminals peddle has the potential to kill and often does. The Mr Bigs and their minions must be discouraged through sharp policing and tough penalties.

But there are limits.

In the case of Tuong Van Nguyen, who is awaiting execution in Singapore, those limits have been exceeded. He deserves jail – not death.

While it is true he must have known Singapore's hard line on drugs, Nguyen's stupidity or arrogance does not absolve us of our duty to speak out against capital punishment. We also acknowledge and understand the lack of sympathy for Nguyen by many in Victoria, his home. The community is tired of excuses and frustrated by the leniency shown offenders here.

He is a criminal and should pay a price – we believe a long prison term is in order.

But killing him is as barbaric in Singapore in 2005 as it was in Melbourne in 1967 when Ronald Ryan was the last Australian to go to the gallows. Capital punishment is redolent of ancient societies in which landed noblemen had the power of life and death over their serfs.

It belongs to another, distant, dark age.

The grim process says it all. The positioning of the noose around the neck of the condemned man, the knot positioned at a corner of the chin. A hood drawn over his face. A rope hanging from a beam. The trap door sprung. The neck snapped, the throat crushed.

These are images from the days when convicts were held in prison hulks or transported to the far side of the world.

They should stay there, in the history books, because they have no place in the punishment regimes of educated societies.

Every execution diminishes us all as human beings.

Every execution cheapens life.

That the fear of capital punishment appears not to make more than a ripple in the thoughts of would-be criminals also renders it impotent as a deterrent. Think of the Bali nine, stumbling into trouble even as the Schapelle Corby circus was in full swing, or teeming death rows in many American states that continue to suffer huge crime rates.

We weep for the victims of drugs and other serious crimes, but justice demands punishment rather than revenge.

Capital punishment is a form of savagery. It offers no benefits for the wronged individual or society. It poses risks, in that the wrongly convicted cannot be released from a coffin as they can from a cell. And it is simply wrong to kill.

ABC - Sunday Profile Sunday 15th 9:05pm

Thank you to Mohammed (regular contributor to this blog) for bringing this very interesting and forthcoming interview to my attention - I remeber the hanging of Robert Ryan - just - I was very young, was living in Brisbane  and I clearly remember the impact that Robert Ryan's execution had on the Australian people - it was a very big issue in the news and even as a very young boy, it had a deep and lasting impact on me.

"Sunday Profile with Monica Attard The ABC Local Radio service's (not Radio National) 'Sunday Profile' program on Sunday (May 15th) night - at 9.05 pm after the news - will be an interview with a prominent retired lawyer who believes in Schapelle's innocence. I quote " Dr Philip Opas QC was the lawyer for Ronald Ryan, the last man hanged in Australia. Now aged 88, Dr Opas has entered the debate over the fate of alleged drug smuggler Schapelle Corby. He tells us why he believes Ms Corby is innocent and why she would never be convicted in an Australian court.He also talks about the effect that the Ronald Ryan case has had on his life, how it led him to campaign for the abolition of the death penalty and why , after all these years, he is still haunted by the memory of his famous client." Briefly Monica Attard is one of Australia's most respected news and current affairs journalists. Best known for her four years as the ABC's Russian correspondent, Monica has been awarded an Order of Australia for her services to Australian journalism and is the recipient of 4 Walkley Awards (including a Gold Award for Excellence in Journalism). Monica was posted to Moscow as the ABC Radio correspondent in 1990, returning to Australia four years later to present the ABC Radio current affairs show PM and to write her first book on Russia: Russia, Which Way Paradise? (published 1997). Following her time with PM, Monica moved to ABC Radio's The World Today. Monica's latest role is as presenter of Sunday Profile on ABC Local Radio. A national interview program, Sunday Profile focuses on key issues in Australia, providing listeners with detailed analysis of stories and background information and key interviews with major players. When not on air, Monica spends her spare time with her family. http://www.abc.net.au/sundayprofile

Is this Australia 2005 or Germany 1936??

What in G-d's name is our city/state/country "coming to" when a young 24 year old man can be "bashed" to death by a "group of youths" on a Friday night in Dandenong Melbourne!!
Just finished watching some VERY upsetting footage on Sky news Channel showing an absolutely distraught family member (mother?) saying "how many of our children do we need to lose before something will be done about this".

This killing by "bashing" is apparently the action of a GROUP of people - not the action of some mentally unbalanced individual or "road rager" - a GROUP of people who were presumably out socialising. The Melbourne Age has a very small story on the horrendous tradgedy.

This man was a 24 year old young man with a mother, father, brothers, sisters and cousins and, from what I can gather, two young children. He was also an Aboriginal. I am very saddened to think that this type of street killing can still occur in Melbourne in 2005. After being very,very aware of the pogroms in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the street bashings and killings which occurred in Nazi Germany, I can not help but see parallels and wonder what needs to happen for human beings to actually be "humane".

My heart goes out to this man's family and his children - no-one deserves to die in such a barbaric manner and it is certainly not my idea of what Melbourne 2005 should be about!!

ANZAC DAY - 25th April 2005

Ever since I can remember, ANZAC Day has been a day filled with pride, reverence and deep emotion for me. Today is no different. Anzac Day (25th April) in Australia was originally proclaimed as a day to commemorate the committment and sacrifices made by our Australian and New Zealand service men and women who served our countries during the First World War and in particular, the legend of the "landing" at Gallipoli.

Over time, and after the Second World War, the Korean War, Vietnam War and the Gulf conflicts, Anzac Day has continued to be observed and has become a day of National rememberance to honour, thank and remember all Australian and New Zealand service men and women who have served our country.
Today in Melbourne, in fact, in every major city, town and place in Australia, there is a dawn rememberance service at the Shrine of Remberance followed by a procession of veterans through the streets of our city.

My earliest memories of Anzac Day are dawn services with my Dad and brothers at the Cenotaph in Brisbane followed by the Anzac Day street procession down Queen Street in Brisbane. Today, as every Anzac day, I am close to my Dad. Anzac Day for me has always been a day when my Dad would open a door to his time of service with the 8th Army (British) during World War II, and let me see him in a completely different way to how I knew him every other day of the year.

Moishe (Morris) Singer was born in London in 1920. In 1939, Dad was conscripted into the British army at the age of 19 and was given three months training before being sent, with the rest of Montgomery's 8th Army, to the Middle East to do battle with Rommels desert forces in North Africa. Dad told me that much of his basic training was done at Dover, parading around with sticks rather than rifles as the army did not have enough guns at that time to give to the conscripts. Kylie and I are now going off to the Shrine of Remeberance to watch the Anzac Day Parade.