Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Nguyen Tuong Van - no ripples in the murky world of drugs

By Gillian Handley - posted Friday, 25 November 2005


A few days ago, Radio 702 raised the issue of the impending execution of Nguyen Tuong Van. It soon became clear that some people feel this young Australian should not be saved from the gallows. At least one listener rang in to announce that he, for one, felt his children would be safer if people like Nguyen Tuong Van were done away with.

My brother, David, was murdered five years ago. I can tell you from experience that when you are lacerated by grief and rage, your first instinct is for revenge - the bloodier, the better. Surprising then, that I never wanted the death penalty for my brother’s killers.

What I did want was to make them understand the enormity of their crime. Hanging was not going to do that. What I wanted was for them to know my brother - to understand him - as the person he was, flaws and all. By getting to know their victim, I wanted them to come to realise the loss that his death meant. Until they understood that, they could not appreciate the magnitude of their crime.

Advertisement

This may sound simplistic, but I can think of no greater punishment than to live with yourself, once you comprehend the full extent of the crime you have committed.

My brother was not a killer and he would not have expected a life for his life. A death sentence for his murderers would have diminished David’s death because as an institutionalised killing, it would, more than anything, devalue life itself.

Whatever his crimes, Nguyen does not deserve to be executed. Mandatory death sentences are particularly horrifying, as mercy - surely the badge of a civilised society - is locked out of the judicial process. Even if you regard Nguyen as the worst kind of criminal, you owe it to the victims of drugs to bring him to a full understanding of his role in their suffering - and you won’t do that by hanging him.

Nguyen received the death penalty because in Singapore that is the mandatory sentence for anyone found carrying that amount of heroin. There is no allowance for proportionality. Mandatory sentencing does not recognise any subtleties of intention behind the crime. Had a drug king been caught with the same amount of the drug on him, but with a very different intention behind the crime - in his case, to knowingly create a demand for the drug by as many people as possible, by whatever means possible - his sentence would have been the same - death. By any standards, Nguyen surely deserves a lesser punishment.

This is not to say that Nguyen should get off lightly, but rather to let the punishment fit the crime. Many Australians seem to regard prison as a minor form of punishment; as if it is not, in itself, enough. Incarcerating someone for years is a terrible thing and yet the public bays for longer and longer sentences while politicians fall over themselves to be seen as being tough on crime. Imprisonment, for Nguyen, would be punishment enough.

There are other victims in this story - drug victims of another kind. Heroin addicts drag their families down into their twilight world of violence and fear. Think of Nguyen’s mother Kim, who is living a nightmare, with one son an addict, the other on death row. She suffers all the fallout, from the agonies of the addict to the torment of the condemned - the whole nightmare of drug addiction neatly parcelled in one family. In a sense, Nguyen can be seen as a victim himself. He has seen the howling horror of an addict’s world in the eyes of his brother. It was his brother’s drug addiction that drove Nguyen to crime.

Advertisement

The Singapore sentencing system has denied Nguyen the possibility of mercy. The mandatory death penalty means that mitigating factors are not considered. Have a look at the transcript of the judgment and you will see legal arguments that rustle on the page like withered leaves. Principals and policies are argued. It’s all too easy to forget that there is a life at stake here. This is the effect of mandatory sentencing; the human element is removed. It is easier to send a man to the gallows when you cannot see his face.

If you are going to kill that man, you should at least know something about him. Here is some information taken from the judgment against Nguyen. (The case against Nguyen as published here. Nguyen is speaking:

I was born in Thailand, Sonkha, in a refugee camp in 1980. My mother was a Vietnamese refugee. I did not know who my father was until November this year. He came from America to look for my brother and I. ... Shortly after I was born, (my mother, brother and I) migrated to Australia. I cannot remember much about my childhood. My mother married in 1987 to a Vietnamese Australian. My step-father beat my brother and I quite often. … I completed secondary school education … I intended to proceed with my university education at Deakin University. However due to financial difficulties, I started working instead of studying. … Around end 1999, I also set up my own business in Melbourne dealing with computer sales. There was no need for any capital. Shortly after that my twin brother got into trouble with the law and I wind (sic) up my business to raise legal fees for him. So I found a sale, research and marketing job and I earned between A$1,500 to A$2,500 a month depending on how much commission I received …

Sometime in October this year, I was in need of money. I had to pay a debt which I took to pay for my twin brother, Khoa Nguyen, lawyer fees. I owed about A$20,000 to A$25,000 in total to a friend. … He did not press me for payment but I knew he needed the money. There was also an A$12,000 loan which my twin brother took that I needed to repay on his behalf. He only had until the end of this year to pay up that loan. I did not intend to let my twin brother know that I am paying his debt. I had managed only to repay about A$4,000 for a period of 8 to 10 months already but that was just enough to cover for the interests incurred. …

It was only (in) October 2002 that I was really desperate as I had been out of work for four months and I still have to repay those loans my twin brother incurred as well as paying for house rent and expenses. I rented a house in Melbourne together with five other friends. However only (one other person) and I pay for the rent. … As such I started looking around for help. I did not manage to obtain help from anyone.

If nothing else, Nguyen’s story should illustrate the need for mitigating circumstances to be considered. Justice without mercy comes very close to revenge. There is potential in this man, and his death would mean the loss of that potential. This is a man who took on the responsibility for his brother’s debts. He has the capacity to care and it seems that he turned to crime when all other avenues of help available to him failed.

Drug addicts are victims too, of course, and Nguyen is probably guilty of dehumanising his crime - concentrating on the mechanics of trafficking and turning his face away from the end result of an addict’s agony. When you make deals with the devil, you can’t afford to look at the big picture.

Nguyen was stopped before any more drug damage was done. Ironically, had he reached his destination, he would not now be sitting in the shadow of the noose. The pushers meantime, go free. Do they care about the death of an insignificant drug mule? At the most, it’s just a small inconvenience. Another day, another debt, another mule. The supply goes on.

The death of a young man called Nguyen Tuong Van makes headlines and the Singapore judicial system and some members of our own community, are satisfied that justice has been done. But the echo of the trapdoor as it slams shut on Nguyen and the lost opportunity for redemption, causes not a ripple in the murky world of drug dealing.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

95 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Gillian Handley is a freelance journalist based in Sydney, Australia.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Gillian Handley

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Article Tools
Comment 95 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy