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The long road to eliminating capital punishment in Southeast Asia
We need not only human rights defenders and activists but also mainstream figures to change the equation in the fight against death penalty.
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Activists ask President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to postpone the execution of death-row convict Merri Utami in a rally on Jl. Pahlawan in Semarang, Central Java, on July 26, 2016. (thejakartapost.com/Suherdjoko)
A
fter doing a profound disservice to the global public interest by not covering the intransigent issue of migrant workers in Qatar, Al Jazeera recently bounced back and did the right thing by covering the war on drugs in Singapore.
It is an extremely complex problem that links with the right of a state to provide safety and almost zero crime, but it relates to inequalities and poverty. It is also about finding a balance on how to carry out just sentences and punish those acting as drug mules, mostly disadvantaged people, many of whom are women.
As we know, it is a big issue, almost a taboo, not only in the city-state but also throughout Southeast Asia.
Yet something is happening and the walls surrounding one of the most sensitive and controversial issues are starting to crack. While nobody wants the region flooded with drugs, more and more citizens are starting questioning if capital punishment is the most effective deterrent.
If Malaysia is the major nation in the region to break away from mandatory death sentencing and is on a trajectory of finally getting rid of it for good, Indonesia is also following through somehow. The new Criminal Code offers hope for a more progressive model of sentencing that could ultimately drastically reduce the circumstances for which the death penalty is administrated.
Yet it is a very busy time for those bold human rights defenders on the front lines in the fight against capital punishment.
Yosua Octavian, a lawyer for the LBH Masyarakat legal aid institute, one of the most important human rights organizations in Indonesia, is very busy these days.
