BOYCOTT OPTUS : Melbourne Indymedia

From today's Crikey newsletter:

By Stephen Mayne

The Singapore Government clearly controls Optus, yet their customer service representatives appear to have been told to distance the company from the growing Australian outrage over the scheduled hanging of Van Nguyen at dawn on December 2.

A Crikey subscriber emailed the Optus support desk inquiring about the connection, and received the following reply:

Dear Russ,

Thank you for your email.

Optus appreciates that the case of Van Nguyen is a sensitive community issue and a difficult time for all involved in the case.

Optus however has no comment regarding the issue of Van Nguyen.

Optus has and is of no relationship to the Singapore government.

Kind Regards, Ben,
OptusNet Support Specialist

This is a straight deception. The Singapore Government owns 63% of Singtel, which owns 100% of Optus. The Singapore Government can't have it both ways. If they're going to hang a small-time Australian drug trafficker with no priors, their $20 billion-plus exposure to the Australian economy will suffer, especially with mass-market brands like Optus.

While the government is probably right not to impose trade sanctions, it's a little bit disappointing that they haven't gently encouraged a consumer boycott to crank up the pressure.

John Howard could very easily say: "Look, we're not going to start imposing tariffs on goods imported from Singapore but if individual Australians want to switch their telephone business from Optus to Telstra as a protest then that is a matter for them."

Given that Sol Trujillo and Donald McGauchie are portraying themselves as take-no-prisoners operators, it is surprising Telstra haven't launched a big television advertising campaign. Imagine a script like this:

The Singapore Government owns 63% of Optus
The Singapore Government is about to barbarically hang an Australian citizen
Call 1800 SAVE VAN NGUYEN to dump Optus now and send a strong message to the Singapore Government
Telstra: the Australian owned and controlled carrier which doesn't execute Australian citizens.

Sure it would be controversial, but it would also be very effective and in the interests of Telstra shareholders. Dollars seems to be the only language that the Singapore Government understands, so it's time to start hitting them where it hurts most â in the Sing Inc balance sheet.

(as posted on Sydney Indymedia)

And I'm not from telstra okay so don't start with me! Though I have yo admit, the irony about this is doing my head in.

Oh well, do with it what you will.

Let the illuminati conspiracies begin.

Optus will introduce free SMS credits and ringtone downloads for the month of December to anyone who supports the execution of drug dealers.

Activists may be committed -- but, who can pass up free ringtones? Afterall, they're not made of stone, are they?

It looks much worse; a feeling of disgust for the use of the death penalty and a realization that corporate interests may be more important than international courts.

No matter what a person is guilty of, the death penalty is a violation of the most basic of human rights - the right to life. Many people have gone on to lead very productive lives, even with life imprisonment.

Optus would absolutely hate this boycott. If the executives saw that poster they would probably be having meetings about it right now! Corporate branding depends on public image.

If you think you might know somebody who would support this boycott, even if by ignoring those annoying phone calls about "free SMS" campaigns, you should email that flyer to your friends.

Perhaps with a few links.

___________________

Read
BOYCOTT OPTUS
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2005/11/100028.php

Read
DEATH BY HANGING --- THE BRUTAL FACTS

BOYCOTT SINGAPORE - Necrop[olis City of Death
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2005/11/99927.php

Read
Stop death Penalty Singapore regime Email
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2005/11/100026.php

"No matter what a person is guilty of, the death penalty is a violation of the most basic of human rights - the right to life. "

So, you're a "Right-to-Life" proponent? That might put you at odds with a good number of other Indy Media inmates.

If a person commits a crime that they KNOW will merit them the death penalty then it isn't a violation of their "right-to-life", it's a personal decision to commit suicide.

Selling or transporting drugs in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia or many other countries in this world is playing Russian Roulette with 1 empty chamber.

It's not a violation of human rights if you're pulling the trigger yourself.

Do you know what the Big Boss does to you in level 12 if you don't go and get his sack of candy for him?

GAME OVER

Think about it, he didn't just score all that smack from a street dealer.

I have just cancelled my optus account in support for Van Ngyuen..Singapore..you are an absolute disgrace

All Optus has to do is give away 100 free SMS messages a month and all the activists will sign back up again.

Oh, spotted and inconstant activists!

There's lots of other singapore government investment targets in Australia to boycott besides Optus. Food, batteries, housing, transport, power etc. Who own's the commercial properties where you do business? Do the neighbours and tenants know who collects the blood money rent?

Largest Singaporean Foreign Direct Investors by Total Australian Revenue

Company Total Revenue $000 No. of employees Shareholder
Singtel Optus Pty Ltd 5 835 200 8 588 Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd
Australand Holdings Limited 1 231 017 668 Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd
AVJennings Homes Ltd 552 464 453 SC Global Developments Ltd
SPI PowerNet Pty Ltd 298 223 280 Singapore Power Ltd
SembSita Pacific Pte Ltd 243 364 797 SembSita Pacific Pte Ltd
Hamsdale Australia Pty Ltd 226 867 875 Hamsdale International Pte Ltd
Western Star Trucks 192 268 148 Pacdam Pte Ltd
Wilson Parking Australia 1992 Pty Ltd 171 243 1 595 Wilson Parking Holdings Pty Ltd
Cerebos (Australia) Ltd 152 880 431 Cerebos Pacific Ltd
Exide Australia Pty Ltd 128 313 473 Exide Holding Asia Pte Ltd

Compiled by the Research and Analysis Section, Invest Australia, using the latest data from the ABS, the OECD, IBIS, UNCTAD, DFAT and various international sources
a Data subject to revision n.a Data currently not available

BOYCOTT //
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Well I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s very immature and pathetic to look around for someone to blame. Yes this is horrible that a fellow Australian is to be hanged. But the fact of the matter is, what he did was against the law – and in that particular country their form of punishment just so happens to be death.
From here I fail to see how this is Optus, or any other Corporation (not to mention Singaporean Citizen)’s fault. Yes they may be part of the country… and well frankly that is it; they are not to blame!
Just to sum up here. Instead of looking for someone to blame, why no just console. Pointing the finger will do nothing, and a boycott will achieve even less. Think of him, prey for him, have a minute silence between colleagues and friends. This won’t bring him back either, but depending on your beliefs, this may help.
Alex

Meanwhile, in a loungeroom somewhere in Singapore.... "How dare those stupid fvcking Australians tell us how to run our country. Perhaps if they treated drug runners a little more seriously then they wouldn't have the ridiculously high per-capita crime rate in their own country...."

I don't know what had happened to australian(i should say certain group of australian), don't they feel silly to fight for "justice" for a drug trafficker. He should have known that there is a "risk" to be hang to death in Singapore, or even Malaysia... and why he still doing it?

I am not singaporean, and I am not on singapore's side.

Don't mix up criminal issue with political issues.... this is ssilly

What a disagreeable situation this is. Instead of putting the blame onto optus, lets congratulate the Singapore govmnt for having the balls to be against drug trafficers. Maybe our govmnt can learn from this lesson. Have any of you watermellon greens out there had any direct contact with this plague we are putting up with? My personal solution would be to poison ALL the free needles that druggies use, when they are gone the pushers wont have any customers, problem solved.

How pathetic .... cancel your optus accounts because the singaporean givenments ownes part of singtel which owns optus. How so pathetic.

Let his hanging be a lesson to all you drud f**ks. I hope it hurt.

Their law is unambiguous. Possession of over 15gms or heroin = mandatory death sentence. Any Australian or other non-Sinaporean who thinks otherwise had better not try trafficking through there. And for one whose brother has two priors for trafficking, ignornace of the law is hard to argue.

Their country, their laws. If you don't like it, don't go there - or Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Indonesia etc etc who all still have a death penalty.

On Friday after the killers in Singapore hung the guy, I churned from ISim (who uses Optus) to GoTalk (using Telstra). The same will happen with my wife's and my mate's account with ISim (after their credits are used up).
Unless I have to (stopovers), Singapore and it's killers wont see me again.
Rules are rules- fine. But not killing someone who has 400g of herion in his bag.

i will boycott all Singapore companies and continue to protest against the death sentence in Singapore and all other countries where an evil legal justice system still exists today.i believe God will deliver a powerful force (natural disaster) which will destroy Singapore because the government allows evil laws to exist in their country.
i will disconnect from Optus and connect with a great Australian company Telstra!
i will never visit Singapore as they do not deserve to receive my tourist dollars and i really do not care if their country goes bankrupt!!!

You can't spell or punctuate properly -- you show no sign of an education.

So, how many tourist dollars can you have to spend?

Shame Singapore Shame!!!
God will detroy Singapore with fire from the sky.
Singapore is a corrupt country.The businesses in Singapore have developed their wealth from the sale of heroin from its business partners in Burma.
The whole world is looking at Singapore and condeming the supporters of the death sentence,it's government,corporation's and citizens.
The Singapore government should be ashamed of upholding the death sentence.The drug problem will continue to exist in Singapore even with the death penalty in place.
Wealthy University Educated Citizen.

They had the will and courage to protect young people from drugs.

I wish we had the same courage.

Why should I curse them when they punished a criminal? Will God bring punishment on those who punish crime? Or on those who condone it?

Think of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was the society full of criminals that was punished.