Ratzinger
Many defenders of Joseph Ratzinger's appointment as pope are arguing that his conservatism will make him generally popular among Catholics. Maybe, maybe not.
However, the Catholic Church is not merely a private club of consenting adults that has no effect on others. The way people behave and vote — and the policies implemented by politicians — can be influenced by their religious thinking. Furthermore, parents commonly expose their children to religious education which predisposes them to be believers in adult life.
We should even be concerned when consenting adults are taught things which are untrue and may harm them personally.
Any sensible moral precepts found in conservative religion will also be found in any good secular ethical system. But conservative religion combines scientifically implausible claims with absolutist rules which are dangerous in real human societies.
Cardinal Ratzinger was, therefore, a bad choice for the world.
Brent Howard
Rydalmere, NSW
China and Japan
Your report on the deterioration of the relationship between China and Japan is more objective than those in the "mainstream" media. The "mainstream" media (the ABC is probably the only exception) always use the word "alleged whitewash" to describe the recent Japanese revisionist history textbook approved by the government. They try to paint the Chinese as biased ultra-nationalists. By saying so, they have sided with the Japanese right-wing politicians and have in effect supported the justification of the bombing of Darwin and all the atrocities done to the Australian POWs.
Also, they have portrayed the Chinese demonstrators as an ugly violent mob. I am not supporting their violent acts. I want to point out that they have ignored the more violent attacks on Chinese companies and schools in Japan: they shot them!
Chiu-yee Cheung
via email
Dardanelles
Let's hope John "Dardanelles" Howard reflected on the Gallipoli debacle in light of his own monumental blunder in consigning our troops to Iraq in support of an illegal invasion and bloody occupation. Let us also hope that future Aussie pilgrims will not need to attend dawn services at Al Muthanna to where our latest dispatch of troops is bound.
Gareth Smith
Byron Bay, NSW
East Timor
There seems no doubt that Australia is cheating East Timor out of its share of the oil in the Timor Sea.
I wonder how far this goes back. Could it be that the Australian government helped East Timor obtain its independence from Indonesia knowing that it would be easier to bully a small, poor nation than a large nation? Had East Timor remained a part of Indonesia then Australia might now be arguing with Indonesia about the oil resources of the Timor Sea rather than with little, poor, insignificant East Timor. Indonesia is a very different level of adversary, and is a major trading partner.
I doubt that I am underestimating the ethical standards of the Australian government here, I might be overestimating their foresight.
Dave Clarke
Crystal Brook, SA
Death sentence
I would like to bring your attention the harrowing plight of another Australian incarcerated in an overseas jail — Nguyen Tuong Van, who is currently on death row in Singapore awaiting perhaps his predetermined fate.
Van is a 25 year-old of Vietnamese descent, who was born in a Thai refugee camp after his mother fled her homeland. They emigrated to Australia when both Van and his twin brother were just a few months old. His mother settled in Melbourne's south-east suburbs and by all accounts he was an ordinary kid growing up in an ordinary suburb.
That ordinary life was to take a severe turn when Van was arrested in December 2002 at Changi airport, Singapore, with almost 400 grams of heroin strapped to his body. Van was attempting to smuggle heroin from Cambodia to Australia.
Van was consequently charged with trafficking and in March 2004 he was sentenced to death by judge Kan Ting Chui in a hearing that lasted less than five minutes. Van had spent 15 months awaiting this verdict in a jail where inmates are shackled for up to 22 hours a day. The inmates' diet is also extremely poor and they receive little or no medical attention.
Van's motivation to commit this crime was based on the fact that he was trying to alleviate the financial ruination that his twin brother had created for himself.
There is certainly no denying that Van's actions were deficient in forward thinking. However, the barbaric sentencing far outweighs the crime.
According to Amnesty International, Singapore has executed 400 prisoners since 1991, giving it the highest per capita execution rate in the world. If Van loses his appeal, he will be the first Australian to be executed in more than a decade.
I urge you to appeal to the High Commissioner c/- Singapore Embassy, 17 Forster Crescent, Yarralumla, ACT 2600.
The death penalty is an abhorrent, repressive, punishment that defies the philosophy of enlightened civilisations.
Let's be consistent in our compassion and support Van in his appeal.
Kylie Burrows
via email [Abridged]
Mercenaries
It's time to stop blurring the lines between humanitarian relief and reconstruction and occupation. Since 9/11, the US has put in jeopardy humanitarian relief throughout the world. Previously, non-government organisations (NGOs) such as Medicens Sans Frontiers and volunteers were immune from attacks from protagonists in any conflict. Sadly, after 24 years of service in Afghanistan, after the deaths of seven of their workers, they have been forced to withdraw. The same result has occurred in Iraq where it is no longer safe to provide humanitarian aid because the coalition of the willing has couched their invasion in terms of "humanitarian" relief. This clearly should have been left to the blue helmets of the United Nations.
The coalition is mistrusted when its tactics to "rescue" Fallujah first destroyed the homes of over half the population.
The mercenaries who provide "security" for privateers have only made matters worse. No such mercenaries were ever needed for NGOs in the past. Can we ever return to the days of old? Only by demanding the withdrawal of all foreign troops and mercenaries from occupying nations except those wearing the blue helmets of the United Nations.
Dr Colin Hughes
Glen Forrest, WA
From Green Left Weekly, May 4, 2005.
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