PM rules out campaign against death penalty.

PM rules out campaign against death penalty. :

"'I think Van may become a sort of a signpost for ... to demonstrate the way young people who get into the sort of situation he was in, can transform themselves,' he said."

Transforming yourself into a corpse hanged in another country isn't what you want to aspire to really. I am sorry, Mr. Lasry, I have got to the anger phase. I cannot believe one so young and reformed has no chance to make a good life . I am sure you mean that Van Nguyen had transformed himself on the inside and that his pen will be mightier than their sword. He could have had a very powerful life. As it stands, he rests in peace and he will be remembered on Wednesday. Our Prime Minister doesn't think we shall be campaigning against the death penalty. I don't think he knows what we shall be doing any more than we do. What we do know is that this person and this event has had an impact on us and it has changed us. We are all different because of it. This is why it was ironic the news used a reformed heroin addict to tell us on Friday that he had found this very powerful and it had made him want to help rehabilitate others even more. In the same breath he was saying our penalties were not tough enough and were not a deterrant. He who had gone through our system to come out the other end and help others. Van...who was rehabilitated into death and had no possibility at such a young age of turning his life around. Mr. Lasry is right to the extent we need to know how people like Van get themselves into this kind of a situation. I think that is something we have thought about. He was so young. He made all the wrong decisions but it would appear it was to look after his brother. He did not appear to have anyone who could get through to him and get him to look at it another way. What advice would you have given him? He appears to have been someone everyone warmed to and liked. He appears to have been someone who could have a profoundly good effect on people. He appears to have been someone who could teach people some very significant lessons in life. Yet for all his knowledge, all his literary capabilty , all his capacity to do well he is now dead for trying to traffic 396gms of heroin into Australia. Like a litany we hear " But he knew the rules"; "You do the crime you do the time". Over and over and over. And all you know is this was a person with a mind, a brain, a capacity to connect meaningfully with others and gain their respect...and still he made such a stupidly, stupidly reckless decision.You know of Eric Clapton, Keith Richard and others and how they have lived inspite of addiction and how much they have contributed to this world. You know Eric Clapton is now driven to help others because his life was transformed by the death of his son. I want to know how a person like Van transforms himself as he has done...into a doll in a coffin. I was not offended we saw pictures of him on the net. I was relieved because we have heard some awful things about hangings and, if nothing else, I was assured he wasn't all disgustingly disfigured and he looked very peaceful. You can't fake that. I have seen enough bodies to know there is only so much a cosmetician can do. So I want to know how someone with a good personality can be hanged for trafficking in Singapore when they have been brought up in Australia because obviously we are getting something very wrong along the way . Australians are trafficking, that much is clear and they are young and vulnerable. If we are not going to look at ways of working with the laws of other countries , then we had best look to the experiences we give our young folk here, because for some reason, they don't think the rules and laws apply to them.