One life to live

The rapper Nas once said “Life..... I wonder....Will it take me under.... I don't know?”

Last night, I saw an awesome hip hop concert. It felt like I was in a nightclub in Brooklyn, New York. Bahamadia was getting the crowd bouncing with her funky rhymes, Jean Grae was spitting venomous verses, Z-Trip was mixing everythang from Oasis to J5 to Country Tunes. And Talib Kweli was rocking the Metro with his lyrical wit.

For some of us, like myself we get the chance to live life to the fullest. To experience the many joys that life can offer us, from going to hear my favourite hip hop artist, travelling around the world, to that first kiss with that boy/girl you’ve been chasing, to watching your kids grow up. And there are some of us that have thrown it all away. That did something stupid and will pay for it with the rest of our lives. That gambled and rolled the dice and lost big.

Yesterday, the rest of the world woke up to some shocking news. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran lost big on their decision to smuggle drugs into Indonesia and will be sentenced to death by a firing squad. That’s some cold sh#t. But that’s the reality of Indonesian Law. It wasn’t really that shocking cause we all knew it was coming.

Even though I feel disconnected to the situation being far away from it all, I gotta feel for Andrew and Myuran. You know, that’s IT. No second chance. Andrew is only 22 and the rest of his life is gone. There’s a part of me that says he broke their laws, he’s got to suffer the consequences. But then there’s a part of me that says, he’s my age – so young. And so so dumb. He doesn’t have another chance in life. And to die like that, with no family around you, executed by a firing squad. I can’t imagine what it’s like to go out like that.

I read that the Australian government will raise the issue of clemency with the Indonesian government but really they’ve got their hands tied and have to respect the decision of the Indonesian Courts. I mean that’s fair right. If an Indo citizen had committed a crime on our shores, he’d have to undergo trial under our laws. We have to respect the right of a nation to govern itself. But hold up my lawyer mindset says. The Germans had laws to extinguish Jews didn’t they? Some laws like that are unjust. Some penalties are not proportionate to the crime committed. Drug dealing is one of those crimes which society just adhors. Drug smuggling could potentially kill thousands, if not millions, cause crime rates to soar, cause teenagers to become addicts.

Don’t know what else to say. It’s a tough situation for all. We gotta respect the Indonesian courts decision, but we don’t have to agree with it.

Peace.

DJ Ho.