FOR VAN THE BELLS TOLL

By Diori Yu

Diori Yu is a free-lance writer based in Southern California.

First, let me congratulate the FAIRBANK REPORT for its extensive coverage of the Nguyen Tuong Van case by means of both the narrative and photographic essays. The FR is one of a very few North America-based weblogs that actually followed this emotive story, which only goes to underscore the importance of the Internet and the blogosphere, in particular, as a significant alternative to the traditional media outlets.

I continue to be haunted by the scene at that small Melbourne church where hundreds of people had gathered to pray for Nguyen Tuong Van. As the clock struck 9 AM in Melbourne (6:00 AM, December 2 in Singapore), which was the scheduled time of Nguyen’s hanging, the church bells tolled 25 times, one for each of the young victim’s years on earth. And the people sobbed—some quietly, others less so, all expressing indignant pain. It was only a 30-second video clip, but it was one of the most powerful videos I have ever seen.

The good people who gathered at that small parish church represented all walks of Australian life: the young and old, Asians and whites, Christians and non-Christians, liberals and conservatives, and men, women and children. They are united by two factors.

The first is the manifest injustice in this case. As stated elsewhere in the FAIRBANK REPORT, this crime, which in some jurisdictions might just constitute a misdemeanor, deserves a jail sentence, not the death sentence. And the absence of judicial involvement in the sentencing and appeals processes, let alone judicial review, smacks of the rule of policy rather than the rule of law.

The second factor that unites the people assembled at the church and indeed throughout the world is the compassion they feel for the Nguyen family. No mother or brother should ever go through the anguish of the last three weeks that the Nguyens have experienced. Although they will never know the Nguyen family’s pain, decent people can and do feel it. And they have responded with an immense outpouring of moral support.

Blessed are those who care about injustice. Blessed are those who have compassion. Blessed are those who are decent.