Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has called on President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to review a plan to execute five drug traffickers on death row by the end of this year, demanding that he instead fall back on issuing life sentences to the convicts.
Komnas HAM stated that Indonesia does not yet have a reliable enough legal system for it to implement the ultimate punishment of death, with many law enforcement officers still missing their mark in upholding justice.
Komnas HAM commissioner Roichatul Aswidah cited wrongful arrests and bribery involving officials, to mention two examples, as irregularities that were commonly found in the country's judicial system.
"We need to first make sure that our legal system is reliable before we implement [the death penalty]," she told The Jakarta Post on Sunday. "Komnas HAM is officially against the death penalty. It is the worst violation of human rights because it violates people's right to life."
Jokowi has been subject to protests from human rights defenders in the country as well as abroad following a plan to execute the five drug convicts later this month. The five are among 64 inmates currently on death row.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno said the execution of the five convicts was due to the President's instruction.
According to the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), 77 drug traffickers have been on death row since 2004. Nine of them have been executed, two of whom were executed last year, including Nigerian drug smuggler Adam Wilson in March and a Pakistani drug smuggler in November.
Roichatul said the national rights body had found cases where foreigners convicted of drug smuggling had undergone unfair procedures, such as the absence of interpreters during the legal process.
Although the government has yet to reveal the identities or nationalities of the drug convicts to be executed this month, rights activists, agreeing with Komnas HAM, gave a reminder that the executions would hamper the government's efforts to save Indonesians in other countries from the same punishment.
"How can our government convince foreign counterparts to spare the lives of Indonesians who are on death row while we still implement such a punishment?" said Poengky Indarti, executive coordinator of Jakarta-based human rights watchdog Imparsial.
"Additionally, in terms of the effort to combat drugs, the government can implement the law by closely monitoring and fighting drug dealers, including those backed by high-ranking officials," she added.
Newly appointed head of the Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) Nusron Wahid previously revealed that there were 280 Indonesian migrant workers facing the death penalty abroad who required protection.
Meanwhile, there are 236 other Indonesians facing the death penalty abroad due to their involvement in drug abuse and trafficking.
During a meeting with the House of Representatives Commission I overseeing foreign affairs earlier this year, former foreign minister Marty Natalegawa told lawmakers that the government had saved 184 Indonesians from the death penalty abroad.
According to the Foreign Ministry's data, 20 of them were saved from the death penalty from January to May this year, while the rest had been saved from 2011.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/12/08/komnas-ham-urges-jokowi-drop-executions-plan.html