What Kills Us This Week! AUSTRALIA!!!

Although I have no intention of making this a regular blog-thing, the latest news from Oz demands I do it again.

And since we've been talking about Moral Authority ...

Kevin Rudd, the new Oz P.M., has today called for a world-wide moratorium on the death penalty. I have no objections to him attempting to do this except ...

... well, it's just so downright cynical! Up until yesterday, when the deed was finally done, he was calling for the deaths of Amrosi and co. You know, the Bali Bombers!!! And here he is, today ... blah, blah blah!

I'm sorry, Mr Rudd, but I've suddenly developed a lot less respect for you! Your timing is so OFF! It is a black and white issue! You cannot pick and chose whose lives are worth saving, who deserves to die, and who doesn't!

And as if we all can't see that this is just about attempting to save the lives of The Bali Nine ... you know, those Oz drug smugglers who are now up there, in Indonesia, on death row!


My own position on the death penalty? Well, when you're completely sure that you've got the right person, and you go through all the appeals processes ...

I know a little about this. Back at High School in Fiji, we lost a fellow student to a horrible torture death at the hands of a gang of over-indulged sons of wealthy Indian businessmen! They kidnapped her off the street and repeatedly raped her and then they hacked her into pieces while she was still alive; just took bits off her and it took her three days to die. She was such a sweet, well-meaning little girl - so nerdy and swottish - and thinking about what happened to her gave me nightmares for years!

And when they caught the guys and they got 15 years in prison, well ... my feelings instantly went all primal! That whole aching hate thing! It was all so wrong! I longed for the death penalty; in fact, I wanted them to run a gauntlet. I wanted everyone who knew her to be given maces or cricket bats and those guys to have to pass through a long line of all of us! Really hands-on revenge stuff!

Wait, no, there's another story that encapulates my idea of true justice: It's a Keith-story: he was there!

Back at his High School in Auckland, New Zealand, a classmate/friend was beaten and raped by a young Maori guy. Charges were pressed, only the girl was approached by a delegation of the rapist's family. "Please let us handle this the Maori way?" they begged her. She initially said no - that she wanted him put in jail for years - but the family said they would go ahead with the traditional Maori justice anyway but she had to be there for it since she was the central figure in all of it.

Naturally she didn't want to go alone, so Keith was one of the people who went with her to the marai (the traditional Maori meeting house) and witnessed all:

First, she was greeted formally and ceremonially. And then, ceremonials done, she had to stand, as guest of honour, in the judges spot, while they brought out her rapist, all trussed up "boto-style". (that's actually a Fijian word, meaning being tied up so you look like a toad. In the old days, according to the old ways, it was reserved for the worst sort of cowards. I guess it's the same among the Maori.)

"You get to tell us when to stop!" the chief told her. "And it's OK if you want us to kill him! You're the boss here!" And that's when ceremonially-dressed old women came in, armed with paddles, and the beating started. And it was no small beating! Those old ladies could really swing it and you could hear his bones crunch, and in no time at all, he was all broken and bloody!

The girl later told Keith all about what she went through watching it all. At first, she was thrilled. Emotionally, she was so in-there with the old ladies, feeling like she was the one doing it and it felt soooo good. But then, unexpectedly, she felt they'd achieved equilbrium, that what was happening to him was equal to what he had done to her, and then her anger left her and justice had been served and beyond that point it all became too much! And that's when she said "Enough!"

And, yes, she went away and dropped the charges. And, yes, he lived!

So that is my idea of true justice! Maybe not the death penalty as such! Just an act of hands-on restitution where you get to feel at a personal level that justice has indeed been served!