No one seemed to know, or care, very much about Siti Zaenab when she was still alive. But when this Indonesian migrant worker was put to death on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, the government in Jakarta suddenly grew a quasi-conscience.

"Quasi" is the operative word here, because while the government duly protested the Saudi authorities' failure to notify Siti's family and Indonesian Embassy officials ahead of the execution, it was deafeningly quiet on the fact that she was killed in the first place. Indeed, Vice President Jusuf Kalla made clear that Indonesia's objection was not to the exercise by Saudi Arabia of the death penalty.

It was, of course, a hole that the administration had dug for itself. By insisting on its own use of the death penalty against foreign drug traffickers, Jakarta has lost any moral standing it may have had to appeal for mercy for its own citizens on death row overseas – a number that today sits at 229, mostly in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

Opponents of the execution of drug traffickers here may be tempted to indulge in schadenfreude at Indonesia finding itself at the sharp end of the stick, but such a sentiment is both misplaced and perverse.

Siti should not have to bear the sins of the Indonesian government. Instead, her death should serve as a rallying cry for all countries, Indonesia foremost, to abolish or at least freeze the use of the death penalty. Nothing can be gained from taking a life – whether that of a convicted murderer, like Siti, or of a drug dealer, like the five foreigners killed by the firing squad in Indonesia in January, and the nine more slated for imminent death.

The death penalty, regardless of whether or not a country's statutes make room for it, is a barbaric relic with no place in civilized society today – whether that be in Saudi Arabia or Indonesia.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/opinion/editorial-death-penalty-no-place-society/