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strong>May 18, p6

The deaths by firing squad on April 28 of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, two Australians convicted of drug trafficking offenses, have brought a new chill to relations between states that have much to gain from cordial and cooperative engagement.

This was, by no means, the first instance of a Southeast Asian state having carried out a capital sentence against an Australian citizen, but it seems to have produced much more distress in Australia than earlier cases. And not only in Australia.

A mourner at Sukumaran'€™s funeral in Sydney recounted that the Indonesian guards on Nusakambangan Island had apologized, hugged and saluted him as he went to his death. Many seem to have shared a sense that Chan and Sukumaran were executed at the very moment that their transition from drug traffickers to quite different people had been accomplished. (By William Maley and Bambang Hartadi Nugroho)

Your comments:

Good article! '€œIn an interdependent world, absolute sovereignty claims have less standing than in the past.'€

Exactly! Don'€™t forget (never forget Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran) and move on.

Vincent van Hall

I agree with the overall tone of balance in this article. However, I sincerely hope there was no attempt to establish moral equivalence between those points. Diplomacy may be necessary, yet the free press and media have the luxury of probing the truth more than embassies and professionals and should take that opportunity.

President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo turned this issue into one of sovereignty and drugs in order to defend his decisions using the guise of patriotism and humanitarianism when all the while this was done for utterly political reasons.

As the smoke slowly dies down on this issue, we are obliged to remember the facts as they are and not let '€œdiplomacy'€ (as essential as it may be) tweak the truth for us. This is the challenge now.

It'€™s very often forgotten by Indonesians that Australia actually helped them become independent, represented their case when they themselves could not and was against Dutch reoccupation.

It'€™s often forgotten that without this help and others, Indonesia might not have the autonomy it enjoys.

Of course, one needs to read a book in order to appreciate this fact and on that I think we could count Jokowi out.

L. Millar

Yes, Tony Abbott'€™s statement was clumsy and seeing the response it caused, the hardening of Indonesian attitudes toward the two men and their execution, I don'€™t think there is a single person in Australia who would not wish it had never been made. But I genuinely think the failure was in its interpretation, not its content.

I think the point still stands: In this world, nations are sometimes called upon to look beyond their narrow self-interest. It is this altruism or the capacity for compassion that makes the world the place we value.

Lise Buckeridge

The executions were a milestone in relations between the two countries because the executions highlighted the fundamental differences. Yes the two countries need to cooperate over a number of areas of mutual benefit and continue to trade.

The fundamental differences, however, mean there are limitations to that relationship.

The optimism that previously existed in academic circles of increasingly closer relations were unfortunately founded on false premises.

This article attempts to rekindle that passion but will largely fall on deaf ears as far as the Australian public is concerned.

Closer relations will certainly not occur during the life of the Jokowi government.

Jagera

The cause of death of Chan and Sukumaran was that they were illegal drugs dealers.

Indonesia and Aussie should work together to eradicate drug smugglers.

Greg Daru

It is business as usual. It seems that the only country where the recent executions are still a hot topic is Australia.

The rest of the world has forgotten about them, apparently. Ran into some Dutch tourists yesterday and the recent shooting of a Dutch national did not seem to bother them.

Rojak