"That was a great comfort to her," McMahon said.
Howard, however, said yesterday that Singapore's decision to deny Nguyen Tuong Van a hug from his mother before his execution for drug smuggling had diminished the island republic in the eyes of Australians and hurt bilateral relations.
"The clinical response of the Singaporean authorities to the final request of the man's mother to embrace her son, I am particularly disappointed with that response, very disappointed," Howard said in his first public response to the hanging.
Howard, who made five personal appeals to Loong for the death sentence to be commuted to life in prison, scotched talk of diplomatic sanctions or a trade boycott.
"If individuals decide to boycott goods, well, that's a matter for them, but I'm not encouraging them to do that," Howard said. "There's nothing to be achieved in my opinion by doing that," he said.
The prime minister reiterated his warning to Australians that they face death if caught smuggling drugs in Southeast Asia and said this message was underlined by Nguyen's execution.
"Don't use them, don't touch them, don't carry them, don't traffic in them, and don't imagine for a moment, for a moment, that you can risk carrying drugs anywhere in Asia without suffering the most severe consequences," the prime minister said.
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