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Ending death penalty as Jokowi’s legacy
Research shows that the public opinion’s overwhelming support for the death penalty in Indonesia is vastly exaggerated.
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Illustration: death penalty. (JP/Budhi Button)
T
he death penalty in Southeast Asia must be abolished. It certainly will not happen overnight but if it happens in places like Papua New Guinea and Sierra Leone and if it is about to go for good in Taiwan, then why not in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia or Singapore?
It is going to be a long quest and though we are still far from achieving this moral high mark, we need to keep talking about it as part of an overarching vision to elevate the region to the highest human rights standards.
Let us remind ourselves how shameful is the fact that a basic human rights instrument like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is still a big taboo. In the ASEAN community, only a small club has signed it, a list that includes Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines and almost shockingly Cambodia and Vietnam, two countries that systematically disregard it.
In a place like Singapore where the support for rule of law is at a stellar high but only in a way that suits the needs of the ruling party, this instrument is ignored.
So how can we win this audacious battle?
On the one hand, we need a paradigm shift in people’s perceptions toward the death penalty so that the retentionist governments will start to reconsider their stance. On the other, we need to work holistically to enhance human rights.
Research conducted by a professor at Oxford University, Carolyn Hoyle, for the Death Penalty Project in partnership with LBH Masyarakat and the University of Indonesia’s Center for Human Rights shows that the public’s overwhelming support for the death penalty in Indonesia is vastly exaggerated.
