Wednesday 29 April 2015

Let Us Celebrate With Tact and Respect



           So , Mary Jane Veloso lives --- and that is really a cause for celebration  for the entire Filipino nation. We all believe ( that includes me ) that she was a victim of a powerful drug  and human trafficking syndicate . Her poverty and  gullibility  made her   a vulnerable prey . Various factors --- like the surrender of Mary Jane’s recruiter , the five-minute meeting between Pres. Aquino  and Pres. Joko Widodo , the need  for Indonesia to avert  a widespread  condemnation --- contributed to the stopping of the execution .  Technically , Mary Jane is not yet off the hook. A competent legal team still has  to prove her innocence . But anyway , all the celebrations are justifiable. Right or wrong , she’s our sister. Let us rejoice .
            Indeed , jubilation is everywhere : singing , dancing , hugging , street partying . Social media  now abound with expressions such as “ Miracles do  happen! ” and  “ God is great ! ”.  I believe  that such  words   and actions are genuine expressions of  gratitude.


However , I am not very comfortable  having such public  celebrations amid the grief of others. Let us remember that eight other convicts  of different nationalities  were executed through firing squad , a form of  capital punishment currently considered  by many countries  as barbaric and cruel.  All of them were found by the Indonesian court  guilty of drug trafficking .
     Two of them  were Australian citizens : Andrew Chan  and Myuran Sukumaran .  These two men spent ten years in Indonesian prison before that  execution. Australian PM Tony Abbott  and  many of his countrymen insisted  that the two had been rehabilitated during their jail term.  Abbott did not deny that the two deserved to be punished --- but he also said that they did not deserve to be meted out the death penalty because of the positive changes they showed .  Chan   eventually became a Christian pastor  in prison .( If he was simply trying to curry favors with the Indonesian  authorities , he would have converted to Islam . He did not . ) He bravely shared  the message of Christianity inside the prison of the biggest Muslim country in the world. On the other hand ,  Sukumaran  opened a painting class for prisoners  and shared his creative talent  with them. In fact , he spent his last 72 hours painting.

                                                 Chan and Sukumaran 



           Let us  reflect : when the families  of these  people --- to whom mercy was denied ---  read these things ( “ God answered our prayers ! ”, etc. ) and see the noisy revelry  --- how would they feel ? Didn’t they pray as well ? Didn’t they also cry for Divine intervention ?  I believe they did . Maybe not as dramatically and not as publicly as the Filipinos did , but I am sure , they did .  Which mother , which father , which son , which friend --- would not pray for the life of their loved ones ? They also exhausted  all possible means to get clemency for their condemned  relatives  , but we all know that those efforts were futile . To the Indonesian authorities , and to most of us ---- these eight people were drug criminals . But to some  others , these convicts  were  sons , brothers , husbands  and friends .

                                Chan's and Sukumaran's Family Members 




     Mary Jane was spared . For that , we should be grateful. But eight others were not. For that , we should be considerate . Their  families are in deep mourning and anguish  . Their hearts and spirits  are broken. Yes , let us  celebrate  but let us  do so with tact  and  respect .