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ABOUT
A VIETNAMESE TO BE HANGED IN SINGAPORE
Last Monday, I went to see the Most Venerable
Giac Luong in San Jose before his trip to attend the inauguration of the Minh Quang Zen
Monastery in Australia and to ask him to give the Venerable Minh Hieu ten copies of the
newly re-published booklet Let’s All Become Vegetarians For World Peace. I
also dropped by the An Lac Temple to ask the Venerable Abbess Nguyen Thanh to sign on the Conversion Certificate
of my wife Dieu Thanh Nguyen Thi Tinh who was baptized by her on 10/30/1993. The abbess
told me that according to a news item on the homepage of Calitoday.com
a young Vietnamese-Australian man will be hanged in Singapore on 12/2. So on the way to
Phap Duyen Vihara, I stopped by the Calitoday office
to pick up all the issues that carry this news item. The receptionist gave me three old
issues and I put a quarter in the rack to get out the issue of 11/19-20/05.
“The U.S. and Canada Arrested 291 Drug Trafficers, Including Many
Vietnamese” ran the
headline in the Community News. “A source disclosed that US Police arrested Nguyen
Van Hiep of Los Angeles and Mach Chien of Atlanta, two leaders of the chain that
distributed on a monthly basis over 1.5 million Ecstasy pills, roughly a quarter of
methamphetamine illegally imported into the U.S. Mr. Sanders indicated that this drug is
shipped in the form of powder to Canada then made into pills before being shipped
illegally into the U.S. Hiep is the mastermind of this traffic ring who then
transferred money back to Vietnam from Chicago. The 2-year investigation culminates in
the seizure of almost 1 million Ecstasy pills, 1,777 pounds of marijuana, 7.75 million US
dollars and other properties.” This news item reminds me of another story of a
Vietnamese ‘drug mule’ who was arrested in Toronto, Canada. He confessed to being
hired by a high-ranking official of the Vietnamese Communist government (VCG). This proves
that while other governments in the world try to eradicate drug traffic, the VCG abets
and aids traffikers in their illegal activities at home and abroad.
“Nguyen Tuong Van’s family will visit him
before his execution” was
the sub-title of the above item that goes on as follows: “As reported yesterday, the Singapore government
announced that Nguyen Tuong Van’s death sentence will be carried out on December 2
despite numerous appeals for clemency for different movements, including the United
Nations special envoy. Mrs. Kim Nguyen, upon
being notified of the Singapore denial, was vrest-falled and passed
out. She disclosed that she had appealed to various human rights organizations, the
Australian government, Queen Elizabeth II and Pope Benedict XVI. Khoa, the twin of the
death-sentenced man and the main cause of this tragedy, will fly to Singapore to see his
twin brother. Because Khoa has lost a lot of money and unable to pay his gambling debts,
Van decided to traffic in drugs in order to save his twin from the debtors’ threats
against his life. At the end of 2002, Nguyen Tuong Van was arrested in Singapore at the
Changi airport with 396 grams of heroin in his possession.” This information
showed to me that both Van and Khoa joined the drug ring in Melbourne, Victoria in
their twenties. It further indicated that Khoa
has lost a lot of money and unable to pay his gambling debts as aresult Van decided to
traffic in drugs in order to save his twin from the debtors’ threats against his life,
thus the twins’ wrong-doings are evident because both are involved in drug activities,
in gambling and in getting into debts. Another news report in Calitoday wrote: “The lawyer Lasry further disclosed that his twin
Khoa owes US$30,000” without indicating to whom this money was owed. Is the lawyer Lasry hired by the drug ring in Melbourne to defend Van?
The Calitoday report went on: “Van’s parish priest in Melbourne, Father Peter
Norden, also condemned the Singapore government… Although not authorized to see the
death-sentenced man at the last moment, Father Norden says he’ll pray for Van.” The
Australian Prime Minister John Howard blamed the Singaporan Prime Minister for not
informing him of the notification of execution date 12/2/05 as sent to Mrs. Kim Nguyen,
forcing to make a futile appeal for cemency for the convict. Personally, I think the
Australian Prime Minister has much to be blamed than the Singaporean Prime Minister
because of his failure to curb drug raffic in Melbourne, a major metropolis of Australia.
In closing this article, I hope that Father
Norden will explain to Mrs. Kim Nguyen and Khoa the law of cause and effect so that they
can help the culprit understand and repent the consequence of his crime.
Written in Fremont on November 23, 2005 in
celebration of my eldest son Le Huu Phu’s 56th birthday on Thanksgiving day
11/24/1949.
Signed:
Huong Binh Le Huu Dan
This article is translated in to English to
be e-mailed to world leaders including leaders of VCG.
It will also appear in the EOT-2006 to be published on the Dr. Luther King’s Day
1/16/2006. |
