Barring a last-minute miracle, the Melbourne salesman is doomed to be sent to the gallows in Singapore on Friday. Judging from the strident tones of the Australian critics of the death sentence, however, the hue and cry over the execution are not going to die down shortly. Nor for that matter, is the debate over capital punishment going to fizzle out any time soon, not with nine young Australians still on trial in Bali and facing the ultimate punishment for trying to smuggle heroin.

Just as in the Schapelle Corby affair, a disturbing note in the Nguyen case is the depth of the emotions. Twenty years ago, the Australian Prime Minister described the execution of Kevin Barlow and Michael Chambers in Malaysia for drug trafficking as "barbaric", and caused a distinct chill in ties between Canberra and Kuala Lumpur. Nothing much has changed since then, except that the official Australian response has been more restrained, making diplomatic fallouts much less likely. In resisting calls for trade boycotts and economic sanctions, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been at some pains to stress that the Nguyen affair would not be allowed to "contaminate" relations with Singapore. In respecting Singapore’s sovereignty, Howard was reiterating the stand he took in the Corby case that Australia has "neither the power nor the right to intervene" in the justice systems of other countries.

However, former prime ministers, opposition spokesmen, retired judges and other pundits do not seem as mindful of the diplomatic and other damage caused by casting aspersions on the verdicts of foreign courts. They were perhaps moved by the touching story of a Vietnamese born in a Thai refugee camp and raised in Melbourne by a single mother who became a drug mule in order to pay off debts owed by his twin brother to loan sharks. This does not, however, excuse the intemperate language and injudicious descriptions of the island nation. Neither does this exonerate the detractors from the lack of understanding of the Singapore perspective. It is easy to be sanctimonious about the savagery of hanging but there are grim realities about drug trafficking and addiction that are not so easily ignored. In the words of Abdullah Tarmugi, Speaker of the Singapore Parliament, "We have an obligation to protect the lives of those who could be ruined by the drugs Nguyen was carrying. He knew what he was doing and the consequences of his action".

Howard has warned Singapore to expect "lingering resentment". Neither the Nguyen affair nor the other high-profile drug cases should go unnoticed in Australia. Instead of burning with anger, however, what should sink in their minds is that the hangman waits for those who smuggle drugs in Southeast Asia?

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