When Power Trumps Mercy

I share the sadness of the killing of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the pointlessness particularly, the barbarity as well and the heartlessness above all.

I don’t agree with the death penalty anywhere for any reason so I have a basis of bias from the start. It doesn’t work, it isn’t decent and it is a grand hypocrisy to decry and sentence a person because of the horrific nature of their crime and then commit as horrific a one ourselves. It’s a grotesque nonsense.

The way that this has been handled by Indonesian authorities, particularly the judiciary and the Presidency is troubling. There has been in the last months a callous disregard, even a chest thumping glee and the series of inchoate acts by them which almost seemed to be arrogant and immature at times. My observations on what has troubled me in this matter:

• The dramatic, muscular demonstration of force when the prisoners were transferred to the execution site in the army vehicles
•  The lack of acknowledgement of the rehabilitation of the two men over the ten years of imprisonment
•  The discourtesy of not responding to approaches made to the Government
•  Having a warship circling the prison island after the transfer of the men
•  Initially saying those being executed could not have their chaplains with them at the end
• The gloating and insensitive appearance of the Indonesian Attorney General at Nusakambangan after the executions boasting that they were ‘more perfect than the last’ (executions).

There are two matters before the justice system in Indonesia arising from the Chan/Sukumaran cases. One is that the President was not acting in accordance with the Constitution in the ways he approved the executions and dealt with clemency pleas. The other is that of alleged corruption by and in the courts where the judges that sentenced the Bali nine duo to death, allegedly asked for more than $130,000 to give a prison term of less than 20 years rather than death. Pretty serious stuff.  If the first matter is proven then the President would likely be asked to review the pleas accordingly BUT no point anymore and anyway he has said any outcome would not be made retrospective which is awfully convenient isn’t it? If the second matter is proven then one would think that any judgments made by the people accused would have to be overturned and trials either declared as mistrials or retried. The best that can be achieved would be that the two Australians would receive a pardon or a posthumously commuted life sentence.

Here’s the odd thing about the death sentence in this case and I might just be a bit dense. Those who supported the death penalty said that if the drugs they were carrying had have made it to Australia and got out to the community it could have caused death and harm. That is absolutely undeniable but it’s a pretty big if and I wonder if it makes one bit of sense to put someone to death when the harm did not occur. Not only did not but would not because the AFP knew about the stash, knew who was doing it and knew when they were leaving the country. They took their ill-judged step to tip off the Indonesian’s presumably to have the smugglers detained and to avoid any chance of the drugs getting to Australia. Job done, ends achieved if you’ll pardon the unfortunate phrase. Will we now execute someone who plans a murder but is caught beforehand? Maybe we’ll give lethal injections or the chair to a would-be hijacker who is caught at the airport before he gets on the plane? The point of apprehension and a rock solid case is that it prevents the planned crime. Of course you would imprison or rehabilitate these kinds of offenders but to off them when they haven’t done the worst is baffling.

Finally there is a dichotomy in a President having a tough stand on drugs which is fair enough but whose country has no harm-reduction strategies for users in its platform. Surely finding ways to get people of drugs is a good way to impact the ‘business model’ of traffickers and smugglers. It might also be worthwhile getting drugs out of the prisons where they can be purchased openly and cheaply. Indonesia has about 60% of its prison population continuing drug users and a hefty proportion are HIV positive because of the exchange of used syringes.

But how does Indonesia handle this? Not with compassion or assistance but by having some of the world's harshest laws against the trafficking but also the consumption of drugs. Effectively there is no difference under Indonesian law between dealers and users and those laws seem to be more and more draconian and yet the problem is not going away. You have to wonder if the publicity of executions and the tough talk is more attractive (and more politically important)than helping the drug industry to wither away. What kind of President wouldn’t rather act to see his most vulnerable citizens be well and drug free rather than pursue headlines, appear tough and prop up short sighted policies and politics?

Reality check: Not one person will stop buying, taking or smuggling drugs because of what happened on that desolate island on Tuesday night. President Joko has established himself now as a play thing of his enemies, they bark he responds. People will die in the streets of Indonesia, others will continue to buy and sell in Bali and the pockets of the real mongrels in the prison and judicial system will continue to be lined. That’s where the scourge of drugs in Indonesia is. For most of the last ten years it was never in Andrew Chan or Myuran Sukumaran’s hands. They made a stupid mistake and then they did better.

More than can be said for the process and the President that killed them.  When power trumps mercy!

My deepest sympathy to the family, friends and legal teams of those we've lost.