This week’s Rose cafe was an about very sensitive topic: torture.  Nick Cheeseman, who is a researcher from ANU and Porpen, an activist, came in to talk about torture in South east Asia. He brought up this question of “does torture work?” to punish those who have committed a crime, a necessary step of punishment throughout SEAsia.

For me, I have never thought it was right. I had a friend who was from Thailand, whose uncle was in jail due to petty crime. However, the jail used torture on him because he has committed a crime. According to the uncle, who is now free, the torture was used as a “cure” and “teaching” to the prisoners. However, rather than preventing crime, it only increased hatred and feeling of vengeance among prisoners. I also think this method is very wrong. No prisoners need to be physically or forcefully harmed mentally. The fact that they are in prison is enough. I think it is important for prisons to reform so that rather than using torture, the government can use its power to prevent future crime, to help the integration of criminals back into society as able good citizens.

I also think that it is important to raise awareness of this issue. I was not informed of such occurrences in South East Asia until the rose seminar, which triggered me to do more research on the topic.