8 Asians

On 12th October 2012, 6:10pm, Australian Eastern Standard Time, a frail 69 year old man suffering from Parkinsons disease was released from Long Bay Correctional Centre and escorted off to be deported back to Malaysia. 21 years ago, Chiew Seng Liew was responsible for the untimely death of perhaps Australia’s greatest cardiac surgeon: Dr Victor Chang.

One of the fore-front pioneers of medical research and development into heart transplants and valve replacement, Dr Chang was one of the few awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia, the highest level of the Order of Australia that can only be bestowed by the Queen of the United Kingdom or her direct representative in Australia, the Governor-General. However, this life was ended on the 4th July, 1991 by two shots in the head, all because Chiew Seng (Ah Sung) Liew and Choon Tee (Phillip) Lim wanted to extort some money by kidnapping him. Lim was released after 18 years and deported back to Malaysia in 2009. Now Liew joins him despite opposition from the public and NSW Attorney-General, having served 21 of his appointed 26 years. But is such opposition warranted?

Suffering from Parkinson’s disease, the early onset of dementia and a host of physical ailments, the justice in keeping him behind bars is sometimes hard to see. Prison is meant to impress on someone the gravity and seriousness of their crime whilst also serving as a deterrent and extracting punishment for their actions.  Liew will soon at the stage where he will no longer remember his crime, or his family, or his actions that led him to prison. While some will argue leniency, and some will say it is laxity, sometimes the past has to be in the past, and let forgiveness play its part in healing the wounds.

[Photo courtesy of Herald Sun.]