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Mother of Bali Nine member sends message to Jokowi
Raji Sukumaran, the mother of Australian Myuran Sukumaran, who was executed on April 29, has sent a three-page letter to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to express her anguish over the execution of her son
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R
aji Sukumaran, the mother of Australian Myuran Sukumaran, who was executed on April 29, has sent a three-page letter to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to express her anguish over the execution of her son.
She addressed Jokowi as Indonesia's leader and a father of three, who instructed that the executions of Sukumaran and seven other condemned drug traffickers take place.
"As I make the preparations to bury my beautiful son, I thought I would share my feelings with you. I thought I would share how my son was reformed, was full of life, love and passion, and who so desperately wanted to live his life in service to help others," she said in the letter, which was distributed to the media.
Raji said she made the letter open to the public in the hope it might help other people or families of prisoners on death row deal with the situation.
While admitting that her son had committed a serious crime, Raji said he had "also apologized to your country and your people many times".
She deplored that Jokowi had never really learned what Sukumaran and his fellow Bali Nine member Andrew Chan had done while in prison and deplored Jokowi's decision not to look into the death-row inmates personal circumstances, in an apparent hint at Jokowi's own admission that the President did not read what he signed.
"If you do not read what you are signing how can you know whether the life you are taking belongs to someone who is mentally unwell, or an old man in a wheelchair, or young mother with two children, or a father of two, or a man who has been in your prison for 17 years, or a gospel singer, or two young boys who made foolish mistakes,' she said.
She also questioned the integrity of the Indonesian justice system while saying that Jokowi ordering the executions had nothing to do with preventing drug trafficking, but 'everything to do with your politics'.
Raji conveyed her prayers to all inmates on death row as the Indonesian authorities were preparing the next batch of executions.
"As l finish this letter, I pray for the many other men and women whose lives are in your hands, especially those on death row. I pray that you will have the courage to look beyond the politics, for they too have families who love them, despite their mistakes," she concluded. (nvn)(+++)
