No Mr Abbott, it is not an odd thing to do

A few months ago I read an ABC Radio National transcript stating if Muyran Sukumaran "lives until the end of 2015, he will complete his bachelor of fine arts through Monash University."

This seemed unjust. Education changes lives and here was someone trying to improve his life and those of the other prisoners around him. It wasn't his fault he couldn't finish that degree. All his yearning, striving and ambitions were about to be shot to pieces.

It rung a particular chord as Monash was my alma mater. I treasured my own education and so began my own round of emails.

My argument was that the university should get that degree through for this young man. Surely somewhere in all his years of artistic practice and setting up art classes for Kerobokan prisoners, his entry of a painting into the Archibald Prize there had to be some grounds for exemptions.

Further research revealed the ABC reporter had confused the names of universities. Muyran had actually studied through Curtin University in Western Australia.

Here was an institution with a heart. They were already looking into what they could do.

They moved quickly and found ways to get forms through to Muyran in Kerobokan Jail, without waiting for the slow and unreliable mail system, for without his official signature they could not access educational records needed to complete the paperwork.

Everything was above board but done with some expediency given the nature of the situation. Those with a keen eye will also note that the accomplishment was an Associate Degree not a full degree therefore recognising his studies to date rather than studies he would never be allowed to complete.

The week before the execution I happened to be standing in a queue next to a Curtin educator who told me. "Curtin received a lot of praise for getting that degree through but also a great deal of flack."

One can only hope that since the execution on the 27th April detractors have changed their tune. Half of Australia thought that Indonesia would never be so heartless as to shoot those young men. Now we know differently and it was important to get that degree conferred and in a hurry.

Not simply for Muyran to offer him an important milestone in a young man's life but for his family. As Ben Quilty, Myuran's friend and mentor wrote in the lead up to the execution: "Myu's mum, Raji, is worried that the pressure of an imminent firing squad will prevent Myu finishing his degree this year. She has worried more in the past 10 years than most mothers worry in a lifetime."

Australian Catholic University (ACU) has also just stepped out into the public arena announcing it will introduce a scholarship in memory of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukurman. The scholarship commemorates the two men but does not name it after them. Instead they are called the Mercy Scholarships for as Vice-Chancellor Professor Greg Craven says it is named "after the quality so desperately denied Chan and Sukumaran."

Certain political figures huffed and fumed while right wing commentators were irritating with their misconceptions.

Jeff Kennett demanded in the Herald Sun (May 6th) that the university should step in and tell their vice-chancellor Greg Craven to reverse the decision: "Because that is what good universities do." Tony Abbott was flabbergasted when he heard of the scholarship when being interviewed on 2GB radio, stating: "It's, if I may say so, an odd thing for a university to do." He went on: "I absolutely deplore what happened this week, it casts a very deep shadow over what is normally a good relationship with Indonesia. ... By the same token there can be no truck with drug trafficking, absolutely none."

The language was surprising for a supposedly religious man. It was the same terminology used by the Indonesian president in labelling Chan and Sukurman as drug traffickers worthy of killing instead of considering mercy and the fact that the young men had redeemed themselves through their actions.

Yes they were drug runners but that was ten years ago. After that they turned their lives around. Even the prison governor testified to the example they lead in encouraging prisoners to lead drug-free lives. And as the jail is purportedly rife with drugs as well as a pervasive sense of despair taking drugs would be the easiest way out of there.

Chan became a pastor ­­– a religious man. The two organized English language; computer skills, health, fitness and art classes open for prisoners who were drug free. Over the years the two engaged in a series of selfless and redemptive acts culminating in Pastor Chan doing a roll call at the execution site to see how everyone was fairing before leading the condemned men in "Amazing Grace" until the bullets gutted their singing.

As Greg Craven also said: "And these are not scholarships in memory of men who once were drug runners. They commemorate men who died reformed, redeemed, courageously and uncompromisingly human. I hope I die with such grace."

For Greg Craven therefore to stand against the death penalty, to offer scholarships that in his words are a fitting tribute "to the reformation, courage and dignity of the two men, " that to my mind is what "good universities should do."