INDONESIA TAKING AIM AT THE BLACK MARKET IN DRUGS

No Forgiveness for Drug Dealers in Indonesia: Late night wake-up call

By Richard Krupp, PhD

PACOVILLA Corrections blog
April 30, 2015

While various efforts to legalize illicit drugs in the United States are underway, Indonesia continues with a different approach.

Evidently a different view of the war on drugs can be found in this southeast Asian country comprising thousands of islands with more than 250 million people.

Indonesia views drug dealing and trafficking as a very serious matter and is not very forgiving when it comes to punishment.

According to Wikipedia:

Capital punishment in Indonesia is restricted to 16 crimes. Though the death penalty existed as a punishment from the inception of the Republic of Indonesia, the first execution did not take place until 1973.

The Indonesian government does not issue detailed statistics about every person facing the death penalty in the country. In fact, “the search for precise figures is hampered by prevailing state secrecy over the death penalty.” It is believed, however, that there are around 130 people, Indonesians and foreign nationals, currently (as of 2013) sentenced to die in Indonesia.

Prisoners (particularly those convicted of murder, terrorism or drug trafficking offences) spend a long time languishing in prison before their sentence is finally carried out. Usually their final appeal has been exhausted through the courts and President. Prisoners and their families are notified 72 hours in advance of their pending execution. They are usually transferred to Nusa Kambangan island. They are woken up in the middle of the night and taken to a remote (and undisclosed) location and executed by firing squad. The method has not changed since 1964.

Capital punishment is carried out in Indonesia by a firing squad. The prisoner blindfolded is led to a grassy area where they have an option to sit or stand. The 12 armed executioners shoot the prisoner in the chest from a range of five to ten meters. Only three fire live bullets and the rest fire blanks. If the prisoner does not die, the Commander is required to issue a final bullet to the prisoner’s head. (cited source at http://tinyurl.com/oq4xynw.)

Recently several inmates were on the wake-up call and caught some bullets. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal reported:

Indonesia Executes Seven Foreigners in Drug Cases

The government executed eight people—seven of them foreigners—for their roles in drug crimes, after 11th-hour appeals for clemency by families, heads of state, and international organizations failed to sway President Joko Widodo.

Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo said Wednesday that the eight convicts were shot simultaneously at 12:35 a.m. local time and were declared dead three minutes later.

“All (shots) were successful, none missed (the targets),” he told reporters in Cilacap after he inspected the maximum security prison in central Java, where eight firing squads with 13 shooters each shot the prisoners.

“Executing drug convicts is not a pleasant thing to do, but we have to fight against drug trafficking,” he added.

Those executed included two Australians, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, who were convicted in 2006 as leaders of the “Bali Nine” heroin-smuggling ring. The others included four Nigerians, a Brazilian and an Indonesian. All eight had been in prison for years, convicted of possessing or trafficking drugs like heroin, cocaine and marijuana (for full story read http://tinyurl.com/p8844aj.)

Though Indonesia has been chastised by many countries, they have not backed down from the “unforgiving” approach to their drug problems. Is this a deterrent?

I don’t know if there are any studies, but I think the news of this event will certainly spread to those who are planning to get involved in drug dealing in Indonesia. Drug dealers/smugglers will find no forgiveness in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, various states in our country proceed to legalize marijuana, offer needle exchange programs, and various alternatives to incarceration.

EDITOR’S NOTE: During the past year, Dorina Lisson has sent me a number of Australian newspaper articles about the outrage and objections her government has expressed against the death sentences imposed on the two now executed Australian citizens. One report even said Indonesia was prepared to go to war against Australia over the issue. While Dorina is an outspoken opponent of capital punishment, she has no sympathy for the two Aussie drug traffickers.

And Bob Walsh says, “It [Indonesia’s policy on executing drug traffickers] might not be a deterrent, but it sure as hell cuts down on repeat offenders.”