Jakarta – Human rights activists have joined forces to condemn the use of the death penalty in Indonesia for major crimes, such as drug trafficking.
"We keep wondering what makes death penalty so popular here. What is wrong with our legal and politic system? The more democratic a country is, the more it should respect and protect the human rights of its people," Benny Sabdo, executive director of the independent political think tank Respublica Political Institute, said on Friday.
He criticized poor accountability and integrity among the country's law enforcement, pointing to the death penalty as not enough of a deterrent to end drug-related crimes.
Meanwhile, the Coordinator of the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Haris Azhar said most Indonesians were frustrated with the poor performance of law enforcement, given the high number of drug cases, and support the death penalty as it appears more efficient.
Patricia Rinwigati Waagstein, chairwoman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation's (Asean) anti-death penalty campaign, myth-busted that stance, saying it is more expensive to fund the execution of one individual compared to the costs of housing and feeding inmates serving years, or even life, behind bars.
Ririn, as the chairwoman is known, said the death penalty does not guarantee others stop becoming involved in drug rings. "As we can see, despite many people having been executed recently for drugs, the number of drug-related crimes continues to increase," she said.
Franz Magnis Suseno, an interfaith activist and a professor at the Jakarta's Driyarkara School of Philosophy, also disagrees with the death penalty simply because "one's life is holy and sacred, and therefore no one can take it away."