The law of the land should be applied equally to all. What about the Aussies that are on death row -- when will they be executed? The Aussies will cry foul when and if these people are executed. They will cite human rights concerns against capital punishment.
MOHAMED MOBIN
Toronto
It is a very difficult situation. On the one hand it is important for families of the victims to have closure, and obviously the thought of ending the lives of the bombers seems the apt response to what happened, particularly since the bombers never expressed remorse.
However the impending executions of the bombers gave the bombers far too much celebrity, air time and reverence in the eyes of conservative Muslims in Indonesia.
In order to take a stand on Islam as a religion of peace, the courts should have given them life sentences with no access to media attention, and let them sit in jail long enough to be forgotten and realize the horrific errors of their ways.
I doubt whether the executions or this institutionalized vengeance towards the bombers can really alleviate the incredible loss of the families of the victims, may peace be with them.
Also at the day's end executions themselves are a marker for the barbarity of governments and violence is not a remedy for violence.
The fault of this incident lies in the Indonesian government for not having the wisdom to propagate peace from the beginning (and this includes the Soeharto era).
And the fault also lies with the media, for not having the ethics and vision to argue this incident's range of issues -- including capital punishment -- rather than what they did which was to sensationalize the bombers and their executions. MADIAH
Yogyakarta
Like many Indonesian Muslims, I agree that the Bali bombers' actions are unIslamic. It is up to Muslim leaders to share real Islam with us, to teach us that killing is wrong, that there are many different levels of Jihah and that these people were not martyrs to the cause (whatever that cause itself is).
Dialogue is the only way. A crucial link that is missing here is dialogue between Muslims of all ethnicities and experiences and levels of knowledge because the gap between us is just as large is what these people think the schism between Islam and the West is.
That having been said, I find state-sanctioned murder just as horrible and unacceptable. These men should have been forced to face their victims' families, forced to face the consequences of their actions and to live through them.
They played God and that is an unreligious act on top of being morally reprehensible. If they were really religious, then only God can punish them for their actions during this life. Death for them does nothing for those of us left to pick up the pieces. Why would we encourage the "an eye for an eye" maxim?
History is littered with the bodies of victims of misunderstanding, xenophobia and hate. SORAYA S.
Jakarta
Australia and capital punishment -- Nov. 9, Online
It is quite simple. There is cause and effect. If you kill you will be killed. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out. You will be held accountable. If the country's laws say that if you murder you will be executed -- what could be clearer. No one is forcing someone to murder -- it's a choice. And the consequences are known.
JONO
Jakarta
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