topic Re: Bali duo Scholarships... in Community Spirit

Bali duo Scholarships...

curmu-curmu — Mon, 04 May 2015 08:00:44 GMT

The Australian Catholic University has revealed that it intends to offer scholarships, in memory of the Bali duo, Chan and Sukamaran.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-catholic-university-reveals-scholarships-to-honour-executed-bali-9-duo-20150501-1mxmdp.html

Whilst I applaud the intention of furthering our kids' education, I'm in two minds as to whether we should structure them around two convicted and duly executed drug smugglers.

Whether you agree or disagree with the sentence meted out - is this just another way of giving infamy to criminals? Or will those involved with the scholarships be reminded of the perils of drugs?

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

poddster — Mon, 04 May 2015 08:04:58 GMT

What next? An OA for Chopper Read???

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

***super_nova*** — Mon, 04 May 2015 08:09:05 GMT

I heard that too and was left quite speechless.

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

*pepe — Mon, 04 May 2015 08:26:47 GMT

this has just got to be a hoax.

surely the god lovers wouldn't honour crimminals

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

digupatin — Mon, 04 May 2015 08:38:54 GMT

Maybe it's a ploy to draw attention away from the current round of misbehaviour allegations against Sky Pilots?

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

chameleon54 — Mon, 04 May 2015 08:41:58 GMT

Just another example of how out of touch the Catholic church leadership is from the real world.

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

curmu-curmu — Mon, 04 May 2015 08:47:48 GMT

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

Anonymous — Mon, 04 May 2015 09:02:51 GMT

@chameleon54 wrote:
Just another example of how out of touch the Catholic church leadership is from the real world.

hmmm. really not that different to the opinions

expressed by some posters here.

Being around death is much like attending a function with an open bar. People behave either very well, or very badly.

Never was this clearer than with the awful deaths of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. We saw ourselves at our best, and worst.

My most uplifting memory was of celebrated Australian artist Ben Quilty gently reading received letters to Sukumaran. My worst was him reading Sukumaran a letter not only wishing his death, but a slow and painful death.

This dialogue of death has continued around my own university’s creation of two scholarships remembering the reformation and brave death of these two men.

Some correspondents said the scholarships made them weep with joy. Another gloated over the elimination of the “chokko” and the “**bleep**”. Many questioned the decision to “name” scholarships “for drug runners”.

On this last point, let’s be quite clear. The scholarships will commemorate the two men, but the university never proposed they be named after them. In fact, they will be called the Mercy Scholarships, after the quality so desperately denied Chan and Sukumaran.

And these are not scholarships in memory of men who once were drug runners. They commemorate men who died reformed, redeemed, courageously and uncompromisingly human. I hope I die with such grace.

The outpouring of hate over the scholarships has surprised me. But I should have expected it. Just as we have the leftist phenomenon of “conspicuous compassion” —
e-empathy — the Bali Two elicited a corresponding “conspicuous condemnation”.

Doubtless, its practitioners thought with the two victims blown away, the debate was successfully over. I appreciate their horror at realising it will continue until the corruption and illegality around these deaths is fully exposed, and Indonesia itself abandons judicial murder.

It will be lonely, then, standing over these two corpses.

Unsurprisingly, the argument that “scholarships should not commemorate drug runners” is both facile and dishonest.

Yes, Chan and Sukumaran once were drug criminals. But the scholarships commemorate what came after: profound reform; constant help to others; bravery and dignity facing death.

Are we really so pitilessly stupid as to believe that a person who commits a crime never is worthy of recognition for a subsequent virtuous act? That, for example, a murderer who bravely rescues a child remains merely a murderer?

In what was admittedly a glancing response to an unanticipated question, Tony Abbott seemed to stumble down this barren track. One might expect more from a genuinely good man who often asks us to accept he has changed or improved.

The other cry from the post-mortem lynch mob is “sovereignty”. How can any university dare award scholarships commemorating men duly executed under Indonesian law?

One answer is that universities dare tell the truth. The actions leading to these men’s deaths were shabby, partial, cruel and indecent. These scholarships merely reflect the ugly features of political expediency.

The second is that whatever was involved here, it was not sovereignty. Sovereignty by definition is exercised according to law. These deaths were inflicted through an impugned process and without adherence to Indonesia’s own judicial requirements.

As such, they were not the sovereign acts of the Indonesian state, let alone the Indonesian people. They were the exercise of naked power by the Indonesian executive, and are to be judged — and one day very formally will be judged — as such.

Which leaves us with a conundrum, and brings us back to the scholarships.

We are faced by a vastly important neighbour that kills our citizens otherwise than in accordance with law. That humiliates their families and takes every appearance of pleasure in humiliating us as a nation.

We cannot live without them, but how do we live with them while maintaining our national dignity and asserting the humanity of those whose lives have been expended in some cruel game of political chess?

It seems we can best do this by asserting two fundamental virtues, the tension between which alone can bring integrity to our situation.

The first is truth. Past crimes and present virtues all acknowledged, Chan and Sukumaran did not deserve to be shot like dogs. These scholarships assert that truth, uncompromisingly and beyond misunderstanding.

The second is love. While this tragedy reeks of rancour towards Australia, we must show Indonesia that however much we reject its decision, we respond to it in commitment and compassion. In this case, we receive bullets but return scholarships.

And so in death, as in the last years of their lives, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran will be instruments of peace and reconciliation. Not dead drug runners.

http://www.acu.edu.au/connect_with_acu/newsroom/news/media_releases/repository/acu_mercy_scholarships

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

azureline** — Mon, 04 May 2015 09:04:14 GMT

Australian Catholic University will create two scholarships named after executed drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran for Indonesian students to study in Australia.

The scholarships will provide full tuition fees to the student's chosen course over four years and be awarded to those who write an essay based on the theme of "the sanctity of human life".

Vice-chancellor Professor Greg Craven said the scholarships would be a fitting tribute to the "reformation, courage and dignity" of the two Bali 9 ringleaders.

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"In a small but symbolic way, the writing by Indonesian students on the sanctity of life would be an ongoing contribution toward the eventual abolition of the death penalty in Indonesia," he said in a statement.

I am uncertain that this a fitting tribute to anything........but I suppose it has some merit.......

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

the_great_she_elephant — Mon, 04 May 2015 10:00:56 GMT

I really hoped it was just a sick joke.

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

cherry*135 — Mon, 04 May 2015 10:16:28 GMT

Indonesian students wanting to study in Australia would be eligible, and would have to submit an essay on the sanctity of human life as part of their application.

"In a small but deeply symbolic way, the writing by Indonesian students on the sanctity of life would be an ongoing contribution toward the eventual abolition of the death penalty in Indonesia," Professor Craven wrote.

Mr Abbott responded to the decision in an interview with radio station 2GB.

I know part of Christian faith is forgiveness but another part of Christian faith is calling people to be their best selves.
Prime Minister, Tony Abbott

"I absolutely deplore what happened this week, it casts a very deep shadow over what is normally a good relationship with Indonesia," he said.

"By the same token there can be no truck with drug trafficking, absolutely none."

Mr Abbott said the university was sending a very unusual message.

"It's, if I may say so, an odd thing for a university to do," he said.

"Particularly for an institution which is supposed to stand up for the best values.

"I know part of Christian faith is forgiveness, but another part of Christian faith is calling people to be their best selves."

He said the men were repentant and seemed to have met their fate with a "kind of nobility".

"All of that is admirable, but whether that justifies what has apparently been done, I think, is open to profound question," Mr Abbott said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-01/bali-nine-scholarships-honour-of-chan-and-sukumaran-odd-abbott/6439222

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

the_bob_delusion — Mon, 04 May 2015 10:15:21 GMT

@*pepe wrote:
this has just got to be a hoax.

surely the god lovers wouldn't honour crimminals

**sniggers**

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

curmu-curmu — Mon, 04 May 2015 10:36:11 GMT

For me, at least, I think the thing that sticks in my craw is the media's play on 'in honour of the two'. Do we really need to honour them?

I'm all for providing more opportunity for study to advance the peoples of Indonesia, but I'm also concerned that the price of admission is an essay on the sanctity of life. Will there be any prejudice towards the catholic stance?

A bias for a religious bent?

These scholarships may well hinge on the students affirming their faith, in the way Dr Kent Hovind, (the notorious american christian fundamentalist), applied for his doctorate through Patriot University, with this dissertation...

https://file.wikileaks.org/file/kent-hovind-doctoral-dissertation.pdf

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

the_bob_delusion — Mon, 04 May 2015 10:40:35 GMT

@curmu-curmu wrote:
For me, at least, I think the thing that sticks in my craw is the media's play on 'in honour of the two'. Do we really need to honour them?

I'm all for providing more opportunity for study to advance the peoples of Indonesia, but I'm also concerned that the price of admission is an essay on the sanctity of life. Will there be any prejudice towards the catholic stance?
A bias for a religious bent?

These scholarships may well hinge on the students affirming their faith, in the way Dr Kent Hovind, (the notorious american christian fundamentalist), applied for his doctorate through Patriot University, with this dissertation...

https://file.wikileaks.org/file/kent-hovind-doctoral-dissertation.pdf

Kent Hovind doesn't have a PhD from an accredited Uni. He is not recognized as a Doctor by any legitimate institution. Apart from him calling himself Dr Dino.

Dr of Theology is the equivalent of Dr of Star Wars.

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

Anonymous — Mon, 04 May 2015 10:41:50 GMT

@the_great_she_elephant wrote:
I really hoped it was just a sick joke.

the smh article or the vice-chanellor's

message?

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

curmu-curmu — Mon, 04 May 2015 10:58:20 GMT

@the_bob_delusion wrote:
@curmu-curmu wrote:
For me, at least, I think the thing that sticks in my craw is the media's play on 'in honour of the two'. Do we really need to honour them?

I'm all for providing more opportunity for study to advance the peoples of Indonesia, but I'm also concerned that the price of admission is an essay on the sanctity of life. Will there be any prejudice towards the catholic stance?
A bias for a religious bent?

These scholarships may well hinge on the students affirming their faith, in the way Dr Kent Hovind, (the notorious american christian fundamentalist), applied for his doctorate through Patriot University, with this dissertation...

https://file.wikileaks.org/file/kent-hovind-doctoral-dissertation.pdf
Kent Hovind doesn't have a PhD from an accredited Uni. He is not recognized as a Doctor by any legitimate institution. Apart from him calling himself Dr Dino.

Dr of Theology is the equivalent of Dr of Star Wars.

Totally agree, Bob. My post was meant to be sarcastic. Ever read his dissertation? It reads like a high school essay - he's even included a poem in there! Reminds me of my writing style - when I was 12!

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

poddster — Mon, 04 May 2015 10:59:20 GMT

After a scholarship like that I have to wonder how many will NOT enroll in that uni and how many will decide to pull out of that uni.

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

gleee58 — Mon, 04 May 2015 11:03:41 GMT

@azureline** wrote:
Australian Catholic University will create two scholarships named after executed drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran for Indonesian students to study in Australia.
The scholarships will provide full tuition fees to the student's chosen course over four years and be awarded to those who write an essay based on the theme of "the sanctity of human life".
Vice-chancellor Professor Greg Craven said the scholarships would be a fitting tribute to the "reformation, courage and dignity" of the two Bali 9 ringleaders.
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"In a small but symbolic way, the writing by Indonesian students on the sanctity of life would be an ongoing contribution toward the eventual abolition of the death penalty in Indonesia," he said in a statement.

I am uncertain that this a fitting tribute to anything........but I suppose it has some merit.......

Imo, it would have been more appropriate if made available to Australian students who have overcome drug addiction and got themselves on the path to uni.

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

cherry*135 — Mon, 04 May 2015 11:17:35 GMT

@poddster wrote:
After a scholarship like that I have to wonder how many will NOT enroll in that uni and how many will decide to pull out of that uni.

None probably. It is not a high ranking Uni. They can't trot off to another Uni in Canberra if they don't have high enough entry scores for it.

ACU is one of the lower ranked universities in the country.

gooduniversities.com.au

Re: Bali duo Scholarships...

Anonymous — Mon, 04 May 2015 11:15:11 GMT

@poddster wrote:
After a scholarship like that I have to wonder how many will NOT enroll in that uni and how many will decide to pull out of that uni.

time will tell

i think there are a lot of young people

who oppose state sanctioned murder.

from what i have seen, there are a lot of

young people who believe rehabilitation

should be incorporated in prison systems.

they might just support acu's mercy schollarship