And this man.

Some people here think all of these countries are combined.

3 December 2005

Nguyen Tuong Van, a 25-year-old Australian, was executed in Singapore’s Changi Prison at 6 a.m. yesterday morning, local time. The state murder stands as an indictment not just of the dictatorial Singaporean regime, but of the entire Australian political establishment as well. The Howard government and the Labor Party opposition closed ranks in the weeks leading up to the hanging to ensure that the outrage of ordinary people did not undermine Canberra’s tacit agreement with the killing. Above all else, no harm was to be done to any aspect of Australia’s commercial and political ties with Singapore.

In the aftermath of Nguyen’s killing, various politicians have issued sickeningly hypocritical statements of sympathy for the man’s family and friends, and wept crocodile tears over Singapore’s enforcement of the death penalty.

The calculated and cynical position of both the government and the Labor Party has sharply contrasted with the genuine revulsion and anger felt by millions of ordinary Australians—and Singaporeans—over Nguyen’s state-sanctioned murder. Thousands of people participated in protests and vigils to mark his death.

Nguyen had been sentenced to die by hanging after his conviction on charges of transporting 396 grams of heroin through Singapore airport in December 2002, en route from Cambodia to Australia. The young man was desperate to raise money for his twin brother, Khoa, who was in serious financial trouble, pending criminal charges, over drug problems. For this tragic mistake, Nguyen, the son of a Vietnamese refugee who had never had any previous trouble with the law, paid with his life.

Nguyen’s killing was an act of unmitigated barbarism. Every aspect of his treatment—by the Singaporean government, Australian politicians, and the media—reeks of hypocrisy, cynicism, and cruelty.