Alfitria Nefi P, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) questions President Prabowo Subianto's commitment to fulfilling his promise to abolish the death penalty for prisoners.
This was due to Indonesia's abstention when signing the moratorium on the death penalty held by the United Nations (UN) on December 17, 2024. A total of 130 countries supported the abolition of the punishment, while 32 opposed it, 22 abstained, and nine others were absent.
"Indonesia chose to abstain, meaning it did not give its approval for the moratorium or did not intend to implement a moratorium," said KontraS Working Body Coordinator Dimas Bagus Arya, in a dissemination session of the notes on the 100 days of Prabowo's government, at the KontraS office, Central Jakarta, on Monday, January 20, 2025.
Dimas stated that during the 100 days of Prabowo and Gibran's government, the government actually echoed the implementation of the death penalty. As in December, the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs or Menko Polkam Budi Gunawan in a meeting with the Drug Eradication Desk said the government agreed to review the acceleration of the execution of the death penalty for drug convicts.
Dimas stated that the government's stance contradicts the promise made by Prabowo during the presidential election campaign. "It is very contradictory and actually adds to the climate of the death penalty which is still being implemented by Indonesia," he said.
Dimas is of the view that, in addition to violating the right to life and the right to justice, the death penalty is a very problematic and discriminatory punishment. He said that there are still legal engineering processes that occur against death row convicts who are assisted by KontraS.
The death penalty, he said, only targets perpetrators who are not actually the main actors of the crime. Criminal penalties are also susceptible to barter practices if we look at drug cases. "We encourage the Indonesian government to implement the abolition of the death penalty and also a moratorium on the death penalty," said Dimas.
– Novali Panji Nugroho contributed to the writing of this article.