THE
PRESIDENT’S MISTAKE
Vale,
Andrew Chan & Myuran Sukumaran
Politics can be a dirty game, especially when
political leaders are driven by populist opinion, pressure from influential
backers and an inability to see beyond self-interest.
Regrettably, it seems that President Joko
Widodo was incapable of seeing the big picture in deciding to push for the
execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, convicted drug smugglers, rather
than consider the fact that both young Australian men had turned their lives
around and were totally rehabilitated after 10 years in prison.
No, President Widodo together with his
single-minded Attorney-General and other prominent ministers chose to disregard
this fact and the positive effect and good work these two men had been doing
helping and inspiring others. Local political expediency and popularity blinded
the President from sparing their lives.
This was a grave mistake by President Widodo
and, one that, will inevitably come back to haunt him. You see, I believe in
the Universal Law, as you give out you
get back, or as you sow you reap.
Regrettably, from the time last night when
the sounds of rifle fire resounded from the island where Chan and Sukumaran
were incarcerated, President Widodo has put himself, metaphorically, under the
gun.
How the outcome of the President’s mistake
plays out, I do not know.
I hope for his sake, he will, in time,
acknowledge his error and learn from it so that next time he will see things
through more compassionate eyes.
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