Drug Reform of Death Penalty in Asia and the world

Dear President of Singapore, Indonesia, China and all nations which have the death penalty,

Re: death penalty for drugs

I implore you to reconsider clemency for drug dealers. The young Australian-Vietnamese man executed in 2006 was a great tragedy as he was such a small pawn and a misguided one in this whole misplaced attempt to guide our citizens to good health in what they consume. In 2015 the Bali 9 were executed barbarically in Indonesia despite reforming themselves and one becoming a priest. Executions are a crude and ineffective way to solve the drug problem. Drugs are an illness in society. Those caught up in this illness even as a result of their own greed are a product of the societies failure.

These people who profit on an illness and a weakness in society need to be reformed and UOCA offers a method to bring about an end to addiction for all of society, and not just of illegal drugs but all harmful substances consumed.

Executing has simply diminished Singapore, Indonesia and China's human rights record and damaged there international reputation as modern democracies and communist states.

Offering clemency and going even further and ending capital punishment will only enhance their reputation in the world.

Drug trafficking is a product of the criminalisation of drugs, thus making the sale profits extremely high due to reduced supply. Legalising these drugs would end this trade almost entirely along with the organised crime and associated drug related crime. Government control of the drug trade is the most effective way of dealing with the abuse of drugs and ensuring people use these drugs in the least harmful way combined with education.

To execute someone because the society misunderstood how to deal with these substances and control them properly would be judged by history as a criminal and barbarous act by the society.

Urgent world wide reform of drug laws, education and controls is needed. Singapore could use this case to begin the greatest transformation of societies view of law enforcement, reform and punishment and substance abuse. Education, youth delinquency, moral behaviour and social attitudes would be addressed such that the corruption of the youth who have lost faith in our economic miracle and are now regularly simply ignoring our laws and using these substances regardless. This exemplifies that our laws are out of touch with this generation.

In depth research needs to be done on the effects of these drugs that are supposedly so harmful to determine what exactly there effects are. They are so prevalent that unless this research is carried out openly then the unregulated use of these drugs and the harmful consequences as a result will be the fault not of the users or our children who are exploited but ultimately be our own fault for not implementing such controls. From what I understand most harm from drugs results from contamination of the product or overdose. These are largely a result of an inferior product being sold or a lack of education of the user on the method of using the substance. Proper education of the population needs to be given on the effects of drug use. Beneficial properties of these drugs for medical purposes needs to be further investigated.

Exit with Dignity - Islamic UN peacekeepers; End War on Terror - talk to Al Qaeda, ISIS, Taliban now!

Labor was right to leave Iraq, but not as a pull out leading to civil war, but in a controlled manner that allows Iraq and Afghanistan to peacefully transition to self rule and democracy. This didn't happen and as a result Syria collapsed taking Iraq with it. And Afghanistan looks well on the way to the same story. War is really about self respect, self determination and human rights. It will only be won when these UN policies become implemented. The means to achieve this is by replacing coalition soldiers with soldiers from Islamic countries in the region under the UN. This is a long overdue start to this process. They understand the region better than us. Self determination means trusting them to look after themselves. Democracy should not be forced on people. Democracy means including people in the same region and culture in Iraq’s future. They are not there. Bush and Howard wanted democracy on their terms in Iraq. You need to go beyond this. There is no equality between Islamic countries and us in determining Iraq’s and Afghanis future. This is not democracy. Islamic people are rightly sceptical of double standards. This is a major factor as to why they are attacking our countries and fighting a civil war in Iraq and Afghanistan and now Syria producing ISIS. The War in Iraq was based upon lies about WMDs. The reconstruction was based upon lies about democracy – contracts going to pro-Bush companies, etc. There are plenty of worse dictators than Saddam in the world yet no invasion by America to support democracy, because they do not have billions of reserves in oil. Who are the evil enemy? Them or us? Or in truth is there no evil enemy, just a confused mess due to the incompetence, hypocrisy and greed of ours and their leaders. If we want to end this war we must implement UN policy on self determination. This means for a start not just moving our armies out, BUT replacing them with Islamic countries peacekeepers as soon as possible - such as Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Saudi and Pakistan - who are relatively stable.

This deal needs to be done in combination with a peace treaty with Islamic fundamentalists including Al Qaeda to end the war of terror. Those who say no treaties should be made with terrorists are ignoring very recent deals made with Libya, the IRA, the PLO, the Tamil Tigers and countless other terrorist organizations including the United States of America Revolutionary Army in 1776. They are also forgetting the Israelis used terrorist tactics against the British in 1947. That terrorism was used by the Allies against the Nazis in WWII in occupied Europe, including suicide missions. We are succumbing to our own propaganda rather than looking objectively at the facts as to what exactly terror is, who uses it and why. They are ignoring that these Islamic terrorists may have legitimate grievances that need to be addressed, just as these other terrorist organizations have been so recognised. Negotiations have to be entered, not just to protect ourselves and our population from potentially far more grievous attacks, but more fundamentally important, to redress the inequalities in the world that are the root cause driving this religious war.

Islamic states have to regionally look after themselves. Using their peacekeepers under the UN. They need to be brought into Syria and Iraq and Afghanistan. The UN needs a new constitution to allow this to happen and for nations that have got out of control to be invaded for the protection of their people. A truth peace and reconciliation commission needs to be set up in the Middle East to end all conflict and resolve grievances. Al Qaeda, Taliban and ISIS need to be brought under control, its grievances addressed and its use of violence terminated. Not just through force but by dialogue with them in an intelligent manner that recognises their humanity.