Van Nguyen

Family mourns Nguyen at Singapore service. :

"'To remember the fact that he was a person who sought to atone for his wrongdoing, he sought the forgiveness of the community, he sought to turn his life around, he sought to become a person of usefulness, but unfortunately the actions of the Singapore Government have prevented him from fulfilling those desires,' he said."

If the news tonight thought they could wrap it up in a few minutes, get us to look at the positives and move on, they were very much mistaken. Fortunately, the radio and the newspapers, in particular, have done justice to what is a terribly sad and abject tale. Adelaide was silent last night. That is when Adelaide is thinking. You never know what they are thinking, but you know when they are. This morning we all arrived at work grieving and hurt. At half past eight, we were restless and looking for things to occupy us and for the rest of the morning we were complaining of feeling cold. There was a remarkable chill in the air which we all commented on. Even the roads were quiet and drivers were unusually considerate of others. You have to live somewhere to know what that all means. My tailgater had backed off on the freeway and gave me an apologetic wave. Before 8.30 , we were all quite clear about what we thought and spoke very quietly...not like us at all. We spoke of the signs in the Singapore airport, we spoke of Singapore. We spoke of the brother. We spoke of how sad we were for the mother. We discussed the death penalty and hanging in particular, and we spoke of how this was just wrong because we didn't seem to know the truth. Something seemed so wrong about this young man losing his life in such a cruel fashion. Just before 8.30 we started chortling about other things...and then we found things to do and said no more about it until we reached our homes and our friends and families. If the television news thinks this can be moved on, they are wrong. It has stuck like glue to us.

The Nguyen family has shown us all very clearly just how much damage drugs can do. Just how messy and cruel they are and just how one family can be so broken and destroyed by them. We have this family to thank because they have put the stark truth before us in a way we understand. We feel total and utter compassion for the mother and what she has had to endure. We know how much she has suffered as a refugee and we have heard and seen what drugs have done to her children and then to her. We feel nothing but sadness and empathy for her. We know we do not have the truth of this. The television news used a rehabilitated heroin addict to talk to us of the power of something like this and how drugs needed to be stopped and how he felt so much stronger about continuing his work of trying to rehabilitate others. It was ironic. We have always felt that this would be the future role for Van Nguyen. Sometimes you really do need those who have fallen from grace to guide victims of alcohol and addiction through the pitfalls and traps of recovery. As the priest has said, this role has been denied him.

We know the people who have benefitted from drug money are still out there an so Van Nguyen has just become another statistic of the drug trade. No one takes on the real criminals for all their big talk. Obviously too much money and danger in it. The nest with the Queens is still there. Yet in all of this we have been able to say we have had a gutful of drugs and deals and pushers and the mess it creates for all of us. We have seen how it taints and damages us all and maybe that has been the role of Singapore in all of this. Some people say they are too harsh and some think we are too soft, so there have been some good discussions about how this can be better handled and managed and there is a glimmer that there is going to be an international stance and tactic on this. Drugs are an international problem but the effects are very, very personal and the Nguyen family has shown us just how this happens.

I am aware that the Singapore Government did actually make a remarkable set of gestures by allowing the mother to touch her son and hold hands. That is mercy in their book and needs to be accepted as that. It also needs to be accepted that they took us into account by releasing the official news of his death as soon as practicable. They didn't have to and they could have held onto it for as long as they pleased. It is their law and their country , but they have shown a willingness to be aware that so many of us cared and needed to know and for that I am grateful. For them, this is a very big gesture.

I am stunned and amazed at the heartfelt and genuine support Lex Lasry , Julian McMahon and Annette Morris have given the Nguyen family in Singapore and the way the lawyers not only keep up their legal stance, but they have shown so much humanity and care in all of this and Annette Morris has been a total tower of strength and done something to make me so very proud of her being our Australian representative in Singapore. All of them will need comfort and support over the coming weeks. They have been so good at their jobs but so incredibly courageous too.

As for our politicians? What can I say? Inspite of people saying we should not glorify Van Nguyen, his life and his death have had an astounding impact on all of our politicians and that is Van Nguyen. That is what this young man can and did achieve. He got through. He needed to because we needed to talk about this drug stuff which has glued to us all and gummed up our country. But our politicians and other prominent people didn't once stop fighting for his life, didn't once stop caring about the plight of his mother and didn't once take the humanity out of this even though they kept the reality of it before our eyes. Not once have the politicians shown a lack of compassion and in terms of having leaders who have a balanced approach , they have served us well. All of them. You see, this is something else only Van Nguyen could achieve...he has focussed our leaders on the facts, the reality , the humanity and the social implications of this. He has made them consider it from a family point of view, a national point of view, a sociological point of view and from an international point of view. He has forced us to look at this in the context of Australia first and then in a world perpective.

Some of the newspaper articles seem to be aware of the things we are not comfortable with which are bothering us about this case. We know the picture is not straight. As Australians we shall say little, but we shall certainly be looking and listening. We won't stop watching until we get to the bottom of this. Sometimes, like the Maria Korp case, life dishes up the extra bits and pieces. Otherwise, we just watch and listen .

Lastly, I think the priest who worked with Van Nguyen must be very special. He not only transformed this young man, he imbued him with the courage and peace to face what was always going to be a terrifying experience. No mention was made of this priest today. Perhaps that was his wish. He is obviously a man of great wisdom and strength. His part in providing vision and hope in the light of the insurmountable cannot ever be forgotten.