Catholic scholorships in honour of Non white Australian drug dealers

[Br.IanVonTurpie]

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/bali-nine-tony-abbott-questions-australian-catholic-universitys-scholarships-in-honour-of-andrew-chan-and-myuran-sukumaran/story-fni6ulvf-1227330838550


PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says the Australian Catholic University's decision to offer scholarships in honour of executed drug traffickers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran is open to profound question. 
 
Mr Abbott said there could be no truck with drug trafficking and the university's proposal sent a very unusual message.

He said this was an odd thing for a university to do, particularly an institution which was supposed to stand up for the best values.

Mr Abbott, a staunch Christian, said forgiveness was part of the Christian faith but another part called people to be their best selves.

"We know that they were repentant, we know that they were rehabilitated, we know that they seem to have met their fate with a kind of nobility and all of that is admirable," he told radio station 2GB.

"But whether that justifies what has apparently been done is open to profound question."

Chan and Sukumaran were executed by firing squad this week after being arrested in Bali and convicted of drug trafficking as ringleaders of the Bali Nine heroin smuggling group.
Announcing the scholarships on the ACU website on Wednesday, Vice-Chancellor Professor Greg Craven said the university joined thousands in campaigning for mercy for the two men.

"We did this because ACU is committed to the dignity of the human person and that applies equally to all human beings: victims as well as to those who have been convicted of crimes," he said. Prof Craven said that in a small but deeply symbolic way, Indonesian students writing on the sanctity of life would contribute to the eventual abolition of the death penalty in Indonesia.

"The scholarships would be a fitting tribute to the reformation, courage and dignity of the two men," he said.