With the Indonesian drug trial being being ramped up in the news recently, people are talking about the brutality of the Indonesian justice system and the harsh way with which convicted drug dealers will be dealt with. It should be a natural reaction for anyone that’s human to question why such a barbaric way to deal with crime is necessary. To make matters worse, those that are executed are often at the whims of the government at the time and life or death is reduced to the policy or personality of the decision maker at the time. Even for those with no scruples, such Chan and Sukamuran who undoubtedly would have caused a massive flow on effect of their actions and more than likely contributed to deaths because of their actions.
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Though keeping this in mind, there are aspects of this case that are being washed over and sanitized and especially the efforts of  the public at large to overlook the seriousness of their crime at the expense of the victims of drugs crimes who would in all likeliness receive little to no recognition, support or public sympathy.
When the “Bali 2? (as I will call them) carried out their crime, they knew the potentially fatal consequences of what their actions were . The maxim of “with great risk comes great reward†rings especially true. In their case it’s as if  they spun the roulette wheel knowing or having the perception that the chances were slightly loaded in their favor. The rewards are so great because the downside is heavy. Given the planning and the attention to detail to their operation and having done a successful trip in the past it would give them an even greater sense of assurance that they could pull it off again. This time luck was not on their side.
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What happens when everything becomes unstuck? Of course turn to the Australian government to bail you out. What happens to your self-responsibility? That doesn’t seem to apply when things go wrong. It puts the government in a very embarrassing situation where they have the conflicting responsibility to (rightfully) try and save their citizens from a brutal death but at the same time try to distance themselves from the fact that they are providing diplomatic representations for two big-time convicted drug dealers who had no quialms about profitng from the misery of others (yes, some people enjoy drugs, but the long term side effects from addiction are worse)
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When visiting a country you are beholden to the laws of that country at all times. Asking the government to bail you out of your rather large crime is as audacious as it is stupid. And it’s not just applicable for criminals overseas. It could also apply to those who are foolishly under prepared and rely on the government to bail them out without any reparations on themselves (e.g. Tony Bullimore who was rescued at a great cost — and to my knowledge didn’t pay a cent)
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It’s not as if the ‘Bali 2′ were ignorant of what they were doing, Indonesia makes it abundantly clear in the airports that drug dealers can expect to receive death. Nor did they have this punishment applied to them retroactively. They foolishly put themselves and others into this predicament without care to the damage they’d cause to themselves and their families and to the public. Looking even broader, they’ve weakened relations that Australia have with our close neighbour Indonesia.
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The media paints a portrait of two rehabilitated people giving back to Indonesian society. In our collective short memory we conveniently forget that they roped in and blackmailed impressionable kids or down-on-their-luck people with threats made to their families if they didn’t carry out the low-level dirty work. Not only were they content on ruining the lives of potential victims of the drugs they were importing, they also put others into a position they could not easily get out of. This is not to diminish that some of the other mules may have made their own conscious choice to participate but it seems clear that none of these people did this on their volition. They were either enticed or blackmailed into the whole operation. Andrew Chan was cocky upon his arrest knowing that he did not have any evidence on himself and a false sense of assurance that he could not be tied directly to the crime. It’s not a big stretch to imagine that had he not been caught he would not be contributing to society in a positive way that he is now. Not to say that people can’t change or make amends, but it seems their transformation was equally one for self-preservation as it was to give back to the community they damaged after they had a very long time to think about what they did.
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We don’t ever extend the same mercy and concern to those who are at the end of the chain of the drug scourge. Nobody gives a candle-light rock concert vigil to help them turn their lives around. They are just the hapless statistic. Some may say that the drug user made a conscious choice on their own. This may be true, but having easier access to drugs may exacerbate the problem. Like gun control, scarcity can drive the problem down. Importing 8 kg of Heroin only makes it that much easier for someone to obtain and start the ball rolling into a downward spiral. The more readily available it is the cheaper it will become and may entice someone with only a casual interest to try it by lowering the barrier.
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It’s good that Andrew and Myuran have turned their lives around and I hope they do not get executed.  I believe they are genuine and earnest in their transformation, though when put in this situation what else is there to do but show your repentance? Neither should they should not be whitewashed of their crime either. Indonesia has a hardline stance and it may be that the only “positive†thing that comes of this is that  they serve as a dire warning to others who may think it’s an easy way to get rich quick. They will become martyrs to a cause to any future people thinking about pulling this kind of thing off. Seriously it’s not worth your life.