Much as Aussies make jokes about and look down their nose upon on their Kiwi brethren, the Kiwi PM has once again shown her superior compassion to her Aussie counterpart.
While Aussie PM John Howard doesn’t want to appeal anymore for Nguyen Van Truong’s life, having done so unsuccessfully a couple of times to Singapore, PM Helen Clarke of New Zealand has, in Malta, registered her abhorrence of Nguyen’s execution to her Singapore counterpart, PM Lee Hsien Loong and appealed for the convicted drug trafficker’s life.
Good on you, Helen, you have a great heart as big as the Pacific Ocean.
Malta is the venue for the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting). Incidentally Malta, in order to join the European Union, had to abolish capital punishment from itys legal code.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) has once again appealed to the Singapore government via the High Commission in Canberra yesterday for the life of Nguyen.
The ACBC wrote a letter to PM Lee reminding him that the Singapore constitution allows the Government to grant clemency in rare cases. They asked him to appply that Constitional clause in Nguyen’s favour considering he is a young man with no prior criminal conviction with good prospects for reform.
Both Pope John Paul II and his successor Pope Benedict XVI made direct but unsuccessful appeals to Singapore to spare Nguyen's life.
Perhaps, folks like Kofi Annan, George Bush, the head of the NAM and the Dalai Lama can join the crowd and plead for the life of this drug trafficker too!?
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