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View all search resultsDeath penalty false cure for ailing Indonesian justice system
The popular support for capital punishment stems primarily from a desire for justice based on a perceived lack of it in the country’s criminal justice system.
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mid ever-deepening political polarization, there is one issue on which the vast majority of Indonesians can apparently find common ground: the death penalty.
A 2015 survey by Indo Barometer found that 84.1 percent of respondents were in favor of capital punishment for persons convicted of drug-related offenses. A 2017 Kompas poll found that a similarly overwhelming 89.3 percent of respondents supported the death penalty for persons convicted of terrorism-related offenses.
Even polls show the death penalty is more popular in Indonesia than democracy (76.2 percent in favor, according to a 2021 Indikator Politik Indonesia survey), vaccines (64.8 percent in favor, according to a November 2020 WHO survey) and the idea that the COVID-19 pandemic is real (79 percent, according to a September 2020 University of Indonesia study).
This popularity is reflected in government policy and public discourse. The use of the death penalty has actually declined globally, with Amnesty International recording a reduction in the number of death sentences and executions from 2019 to 2020, by 36 percent and 26 percent, respectively, as shown in its 2020 Death Penalty Report. However, the opposite is happening in this country.
According to Amnesty International data, Indonesian courts handed down 117 new death sentences in 2020, a 46 percent increase from 2019. And even as the number of death sentences rises, it is calls to expand the use of the death penalty rather than scale it down or abolish it that often gain traction. Capital punishment for graft convicts, for example, is an oft-recurring demand that has recently popped up again after two Cabinet ministers were arrested for allegedly accepting bribes.
Does this sustained enthusiasm for the death penalty mean that Indonesians are particularly bloodthirsty or vengeful? Of course not.
No, the popular support for capital punishment stems primarily from a desire for justice based on a perceived lack of it in the country’s criminal justice system.
