To Absent Friends

Idealism Unclean, Sacrificed Justice and Paradise Lost?

The inactivity generally of Western Australian lawyers, academics and "intellectuals" following the contempt for natural justice and fair play and the carnage caused by the political activists at Corruption and Crime Commission is a reflection of the selfishness of our society.

Too much power always results in excesses. Surely there must be good people in the CCC who are appalled at the bias and disregard of the CCC senior officers for fairness and proper treatment of those it investigates.

Who stood up for Michael Moodie?
Who questioned his and many others treatment in the hands of the CCC?

The famous statement attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) could equally apply to the Corruption and Crime Commission activities.

They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Where are the civil libertarians in the Labor movement or are they all just lining up for parliamentary careers and too scared to offend the controlling and powerful Left?

The gutless are frightened by strength and consequence and are stricken by fear. They eschew justice for the safety of the gang, loyalty to the strong - not the just. Weakness against tyranny is their hallmark.

Let' lament absent friend's, not in Robbie Burns the working mans' poet's words, but those another Scot who evoked the Australian spirit:

"Absent Friends!" -- The lost legion that lies in the grave;
The friends who were false and the friends we forgave, --
Whose words had the edge of the enemy's knife,
To torture the heart and poison the life; --
The friend who lay dying and never could know
That we loved at the last as we loved long ago!

So each across his wine-cup bends,
And silently, and tearfully,
We pledge our "Absent Friends!"
Will H. Ogilvie (1869- 18630