Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh has defended the government's decision to keep capital punishment in the country's legal system, saying it was a deterrent to crime.
"On the request filed by several Australians to have (capital punishment) reviewed, the Justice Minister, the National Narcotics Agency head and I will keep fighting to keep the death penalty here," Abdul Rahman told a media conference Friday.
Two Australians sentenced to death for attempting to smuggle drugs into their country from Bali recently made an unsuccessful push for a judicial review of capital punishment in the Constitutional Court.
"We encourage not only prosecutors and police to retain the death penalty here, but everyone, especially for drug-related crimes," the attorney general said. He cited the many foreigners who continued in their attempts to smuggle drugs into the country as a reason for his stance.
"People assume that Indonesia is only playing around with capital punishment. People don't get scared anymore by death sentences," Abdul Rahman said.
"Unlike neighbors Singapore and Malaysia, which are consistent in their harsh laws against drug use and smuggling, Indonesia is lenient with dealing death sentences, as several convicts had escaped the death penalty after they were granted presidential clemency. They could also get their cases reviewed."
Abdul Rahman said around half of those serving time in the country's prisons were found guilty of drug-related crimes. "In several prisons, the number of drug criminals has reached 60 percent."
The Attorney General's Office currently lists more than 90 people on death row.
The Constitutional Court recently rejected lawyer Todung M. Lubis's attempts to do away with the death sentence for narcotics related crimes in a judicial review. Todung represents Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the two Australian ringleaders of the Bali Nine group.
Todung argued that the right to life was protected under Article 29 of the 1945 Constitution, and could not be reduced under any condition or by any party, including the state. This made the death penalty unconstitutional, he said.
Todung said Indonesia adheres to the UN Human Rights Declaration and has a moral responsibility to eradicate capital punishment.