The long view of Indonesia's death row
I have been watching the reactions to the plight of Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, now on death row in Indonesia. Letter writer Edward Duhigg calls the Australian prime minister's appeal on their behalf "akin to blackmail" and likely to les
I cannot recall such an imposing list seek such mercy from another country. Were this unique plea to be rebuffed, then Indonesia would be materially harmed on many levels.
Letter writer Penny Herasati, Indonesia’s Counsellor for Political, Security and Legal Affairs, noted the “unprecedented [drug] crisis” facing her country, but the statistics she provided are suspect without accredited sources. She cited 4.5 million drug-related offences in 2013 and the deaths of 1,500 Indonesian drug addicts each month. These figures are most likely harvested from projections calculated by the University of Indonesia in 2008. While I in no way wish to lessen the curse of drugs, the loss of life has to be regarded in context. According to reports, total drug-related deaths account for 1.26 per cent of all deaths, and road deaths 3.37 per cent. Is the government addressing this alarming death toll on the roads with the same messianic vigour and associated draconian punishments? More Indonesians die from diarrhoea-related diseases than drugs.
It is pertinent to note that these two Australians were not manufacturing drugs in Indonesia, nor were they distributing and selling drugs there. They were caught trying to take 8kg of heroin out of the country, to Australia. At a stroke any moral high ground has been swept from beneath Ms Herasati and her president.
Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has told the president the death sentences should be commuted to life imprisonment without remission. The Indonesian Bishops Conference has asked the president to reconsider.
It is usual in such cases for the state to claim sovereignty and admonish others for trying to interfere in its domestic affairs. Indonesia signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 2006. It says countries retaining the death penalty can only impose capital punishment “for the most serious crimes”. In 1982 the UN Human Rights Committee averred that “states are obliged to limit its use and, in particular, to abolish it for other than the most serious crimes”. Indonesia is obliged under international law to perform its treaty obligations in good faith. If it executes these men, it will show it has no respect for and rejects international law. Consequently, Indonesia should be treated as an untrustworthy pariah state.
John Patterson
