NAKED CITY: DEATH BY MORGAN POLL
It seems the decision by Triple J’s Hack program to commission a snap Roy Morgan poll on capital punishment was made without any regard of the possible consequences. The poll asked respondents whether “in your opinion, if an Australian is convicted of drug trafficking in another country and sentenced to death, should the penalty be carried out?
Whilst the poll did not refer directly to the plight of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, it’s reasonable to think that the majority who did respond had their imminent execution in mind. Of the 2123 who clicked ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on their phone or tablet, some 52 per cent voted in favor of the death penalty and this information was immediately seized by the Indonesian Government as an endorsement and encouragement of their actions.
The Triple J poll may have been well intended, but did anybody give a moments thought as to how the question was posed and the very nature of these instant SMS polls? We live in the age of not only the short attention span, but the short attention judgement where important issues are given all the consideration of a Facebook “like”.
Perhaps if the poll had extended to a series of multiple questions, where many of the issues surrounding the death penalty in Indonesia and elsewhere were raised, a more objective conclusion would have been reached. It’s a popular argument that we should respect the sovereign law of foreign countries, particularly when it comes to life-altering matters like capital punishment. Does that apply to the recent execution of a woman in Saudi Arabia, accused of murdering her six year old child, who was publicly decapitated in the street? Or the Saudi dissident sentenced to a 1,000 lashes for a blog critical of the regime?
Indonesia argues that it has a serious drug problem, particularly with heroin, where up to fifty people a day die as a result of the drug. Ironically, the country never acknowledges the fact that at least ten times this number die each day as a result of smoking related diseases in a country which has constantly shunned WHO guidelines on tobacco consumption, and where cigarettes are regularly sold to children as young as ten years old.
Heroin and nicotine aside, the country is awash with all manner of illegal drugs, as anybody who has ever been to Bali will testify. Little is ever done to curtail the thriving street trade, particularly when corruption is endemic and the tourist trade is sacrosanct. Whilst the death penalty is legislated as mandatory for large scale heroin dealers, when it comes to murder, a different set of standards apply.
Witness the lenient twenty year sentence handed to Umar Patek (aka ‘the demolition man”) in 2012, following his conviction as the bomb maker and major conspirator in the 2002 Bali Bombings that left 88 Australians dead. Similarly Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah, and a name synonymous with numerous terrorist attacks, has constantly avoided the death penalty, despite his involvement in numerous killings.
Perhaps if Triple J’s death sentence poll had been framed in more emotive terms, a different outcome would have resulted. “Should Andrew Chan and Myruan Sukamaran be taken out in the middle of the night to a secret location and have their bodies riddled with high caliber ammunition whilst Umar Patek, the Bali bomb maker, puts his feet up a cozy jail cell?”
That kind of loaded, highly subjective, quandary would never be allowed in a Roy Morgan poll, but it’s a lot closer to the truth than the original question. There’s something indecent, perverse and highly offensive, albeit theoretical, that a person’s right to live can be terminated with the flick of an iPhone key. That aside, let’s hope the Hack crew at Triple J enjoy their next holiday in Bali.
