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As executions loom, Kalla plays down Australia's warnings
Vice President Jusuf Kalla says Indonesia will not be influenced by the Australian governmentâs threat to boycott Indonesia if the planned executions of two Australians go ahead
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V
ice President Jusuf Kalla says Indonesia will not be influenced by the Australian government's threat to boycott Indonesia if the planned executions of two Australians go ahead.
He said Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, two members of the so-called Bali Nine who were sentenced to death for trafficking heroin from Bali to Australia, were now awaiting their execution after the President turned down the chance to grant them clemency.
'We comply with the law and respect the decision made by the judges and the Supreme Court. We will not be influenced by other sides,' he said on Monday.
The Vice President underlined that the government was obliged to comply with the Supreme Court's verdicts, although he could understand Australia's move to protest against the execution the two convicts.
'An action like execution cannot please all sides,' he said as quoted by kompas.com.
Today, representatives of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta are set to meet with Indonesian representatives to discuss the execution plans.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott recently warned his side would take diplomatic measures in response to Indonesia's plan to execute the two convicts.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also aired a similar warning and said Australia would likely remove its ambassador to Indonesia.
Many Australians have signed a petition calling on the Indonesian government to give clemency to the two convicts, while many inmates in Kerobokan prison in Denpasar, Bali, where Chan and Sukumaran are detained, aired similar calls, with several saying they were willing to replace the two in front of the firing squad.
Along with Kerobokan prison, the police, the Indonesian Military and state-owned firm PT Angkasa Pura, the Attorney General's Office will move the two convicts by air to Nusakambangan prison island in Central Java, where they and six other death row convicts will likely be executed. (rms)(++++)
