End death penalty, even if we’re not all that humane Ati Nurbaiti  ;   A staff writer at The Jakarta Post

JAKARTA POST, 23 Januari 2015

                                                                                                                                     

“Take not life, which God has made sacred, except by way of justice and law. Thus does He command you, so that you may learn wisdom.” This quote from the Koran is among the sources of Muslims’ agreement here with Indonesia’s capital punishment, despite wide criticism of the Criminal Code inherited from Dutch colonial times — and despite endless lambasting of the judiciary as being among the nation’s foremost corrupt institutions. Support for the death penalty also comes from many, regardless of religion, particularly for the crimes of terrorism and drug abuse, the latter given the real fear of anyone’s youngsters being exposed to drug traffickers, from small-town alleys across the vast country, to the middle-class suburbs of the capital. Families financially and emotionally drained by an addict are not the subject of daily headlines, but the sporadic, dramatic police raids and arrest of suspected abusers, producers and traffickers with large numbers of banned drugs invigorate the emotional push for strong government measures. And not many care to differentiate the drug user from the traffickers. It is such fears and sentiments that make the concern of human rights activists ring hollow in society, even as stated by the UN special rapporteur for Indonesia, with a name unfortunately harking back to the old colonial land, Cornelis Flinterman, who recently visited the country: “Crimes involving narcotics cannot be considered the most serious crime for which the death penalty can be used as a legitimate penalty,” he said. Indonesian diplomats to ordinary citizens have dismissed such protests from the UN, the European Union, home governments of the executed and death-row convicts and global rights organizations. They have defended President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who has declared there will be no clemency for drug abuse convicts. Thus, at least 20 other drug convicts on death row can expect louder international solidarity for their fate, though with little empathy here. However, the appeal of, among others, the National Commission on Human Rights to end the death penalty in related laws apart from the Criminal Code should be supported; it is inevitable that Indonesia, which has adopted the universal human rights principles, acknowledges that the right to life is non-derogable. True, many of us are not as humane as human rights activists — surely terrorists and traffickers deserve to be shot, as like murderers they have no respect for others’ lives and continue to wreak damage and destruction from behind prison bars? But the chronic problem of Indonesia being a destination, production center, apart from a hub, of drug trafficking shows law enforcement, including shooting convicts to death, has not solved the issue. Similar to reports of new recruits to extremist movements, the death penalty has not deterred extreme jihadists. Support for capital punishment here for drug abusers is based on strong religious beliefs and the equally strong conviction that nothing less than killing perpetrators destroying our children and families will help reduce the crime. Such convictions remain, even as reports reveal that the big fish remain untouchable, that small-scale abusers become recruited into smuggling rings in prison, and as cleaning the judiciary from corruption has not been able to catch up with daily, large-scale graft across the legal system, from the police to the courts to prison wardens — meaning that those most deserving of the death sentence under our laws can escape, as long as they diligently grease the palms of the law enforcers. Millions of citizens are satisfied with the announcement of the executions, rather than giving convicts the comparable comfort of life-long imprisonment — but this is not upholding justice. President Jokowi has successfully signaled his intent to uphold the law against drug smugglers. He could lead us a step forward in making drug abuse policies more effective and improve credibility in a judiciary that aims to deliver justice, including the heaviest penalties to those deserving them. This is not to say that those executed on Sunday were innocent. But just because we cannot clean the judiciary fast enough compared to countries ranking much lower on global corruption index lists, does not mean we can take the fast lane and kill some convicts. As a former trafficker told me, those who get arrested and jailed are just stupid. The real kings of the business diligently consort with law enforcers and stay clean of drug abuse themselves. They will less likely be caught shooting up, or perspiring near customs officers like the drug mules. In current conditions, we have little clout in speaking up for over 200 citizens on death row abroad. At the very least President Jokowi needs to put a hold on death penalties — because the executions’ message is not law enforcement and justice. It is law enforcement, but still selective justice to those who didn’t manage to escape the firing squad. ●