T

he government continues to defend its decision to grant clemency to 19 drug convicts, arguing that the move is part of concerted diplomatic efforts aimed at saving the lives of 197 Indonesians who are on death row overseas.

Deputy Law and Human Rights Minister Denny Indrayana said on Thursday that by commuting
the death sentences of some drug convicts, the Indonesian government wanted foreign governments to reciprocate.

“This decision is also to protect our citizens abroad. The President has the obligation to free Indonesians from death penalties. But on the other hand, we’re aware that Indonesia still applies capital punishment. How is it possible for us to ask [for sentence reductions] if we don’t want to give it?” Denny said during a discussion in Jakarta.

Denny said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s decision to grant clemency to 19 drug convicts between 2004 and 2011 could help improve the country’s reputation, especially in the eyes of countries like Saudi Arabia, China and Malaysia, where dozens of Indonesian nationals are on death row.

Data from the ministry shows that 197 Indonesian nationals are on death row abroad, 120 of whom for drug-related cases.

Denny also denied suggestions that Yudhoyono had failed to keep his 2006 pledge not to give clemency to drug convicts. “He approved 19 out of 126 clemency requests. Ten are underage, one is blind, while the other eight are adults. Of the adults, five are Indonesians and the rest are foreigners,” he said.

National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) chairman Ifdhal Kasim said that he supported the President’s decision to commute some of the death sentences, given the possible irregularities involved in court trials.

“Last year, Komnas HAM interviewed some death row prisoners. Almost all of them said that their arrest and investigation violated the Criminal Code Procedures [KUHAP]. This may have been biased information but we should not rule out possibilities that these prisoners give their testimonies under duress or under physical threats,” Ifdhal said.

Senior lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis lauded Yudhoyono’s decision to grant clemency to death row convicts but suggested that the President should not do the same for drug convicts granted only jail terms.

Todung said that drug convicts like Australian Schapelle Corby, who was sentenced to 20 years for smuggling hashish into Bali, did not deserve clemency. “Personally, I think it’s better if they’re not granted clemency. They have to fully serve their sentences,” he said.

In the past few weeks, the government hinted that it would go with the global trend of abolishing the death penalty. Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa earlier said that the government was aware that the majority of countries in the world had abolished death penalty.

“In 2010, there were 96 countries that scrapped the death penalty from their national legal systems,” Marty said on Tuesday, adding that Indonesia was among 58 countries that still imposed the death penalty.

Denny suggested that the government could agree to a proposal to allow death row convicts to escape capital punishment in a planned amendment to the KUHP.

“We are moving toward a proposal that if a death row convict demonstrates good behavior, his or her sentence can be commuted to life. However, now we have to deal with the fact that according to the Supreme Court, the death penalty remains constitutional,” Denny said.

Data from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said that as of
Oct. 9, Indonesia had 148 convicts on death row for murder, drug trafficking and terrorism.