Give the Boys a Second Chance

I don't really know how to begin this post. The issue has been on my mind since December but I don't really know how to post about it. I guess that I could start from when I was in Melbourne. The first I had heard of Andrew and Myuran was when they were arrested in Bali in the early noughties. I was watching the news in the afternoon and my first reaction was "You Dumbasses! How could all the nine of you be that STUPID? Didn't you see what happened to Corby?" After more than a decade and after being abandoned, I have changed. If a stubborn person like me could change then may be people on death row could change over time too! I have read some articles about the work carried out by these two men at Kerobokan Prison. If the contents are genuine, the two men had been doing good inside the prison. 

I was having a tough time at work in January. The promotion was a rude shock. It is still pretty much a shocker but it has improved ever so slightly. I had turned to a group of online friends for help. I had asked them to pray for me and when I was at the church two weeks ago, I felt calm like something was soothing me, urging me to carry on. What was said during that mass was like specifically targeted at my issues. Today, I went to the morning English mass again and thoughts suddenly turned to Andrew and Myuran. I was wondering if there was mass at the Prison today and I wondered if they were listening to the same stuff as I was.

The Responsorial Psalm was:
Response: You are my refuge, O Lord; you fill me with the joy of salvation. 

1. Happy the man whose offence is forgiven, whose sin is remitted. O happy the man to who the Lord imputes no guilt, in whose spirit is no guile.
2. But now I have acknowledged my sins; my guilt I did not hide. I said, "I will confess my offence to the Lord." And you, Lord, have forgiven the guilt of my sin.
3. Rejoice, rejoice in the Lord, exult, you just! O come, ring out your joy, all you upright of heart. 

Some of the hymns sung today were:

1. Amazing Grace
2. Lord I Believe 
3. What a Friend We Have in Jesus 

I fought back tears thinking that some people just wouldn't give the two men a second chance despite their efforts to do good. I, myself was at the receiving end of some very merciful people back in 2011. I know how very powerful it is to be forgiven. In the land of Gossip and Rumours, please do not translate my forgiveness from merciful people into me revealing to the world that I was a criminal. OK, so may be I was forgiven over a minor issue in comparison to what the Bali 9 had committed but the two men had turned around! No one is asking for them to be given first class tickets to fly home. May be someone could see that they don't get executed by firing squad.

When I was in Melbourne, I used to see young people peddling drugs (probably heroin) on Russell St near Chinatown. Sometimes the Boys in Blue would be after them. I had always wondered why they don't go after the Big Fish counting money in a living room somewhere. The Bali 9 were quite young when they were arrested. They were probably small fries. What about the Big Fish? And if small fries could be executed via firing squad, what would people do with a Big Fish?

The X never supported the Death Penalty. He used to tell me that people could be wrongly given the death sentence. I was stubborn in those days. I used to think that we have to put to death anyone who is doing wrong to keep their numbers low in our community. So many little girls were drowned because boys were more popular but what if that one little girl who got snuffed out is the very one that could change this world for the better, wouldn't that be a total waste? Andrew and Myuran could potentially be more useful alive than be stuffed inside bodybags to be taken home to Australia. Did anyone think of that? They could continue their work inside Kerobokan Prison. Just like what one prisoner (executed in January) allegedly said, "Executing me does not really stop the problems with drugs." I agreed with him because if executions work, we wouldn't have problems with drugs now. I see teachers hitting little children when they misbehave but some kids just keep reoffending over and over. Does hitting work? Not on the long run, I'm afraid.