Amrozi, damned and condemned

Amrozi, damned and condemned

Justice under Indonesian law has been done. After a swift
investigation and an open and fair trial, the first of the Bali
bombers has been condemned to die by firing squad. That is a
closure of sorts. But it is by no means the end of the Bali
tragedy.

Amrozi's defiant pride in his role in the Bali deaths and his
odious gloating over this week's Marriott Hotel bombing in
Jakarta has provoked deep, unhappy emotions in Australians and
Indonesians alike. At a personal level, there will be those who
draw comfort from knowing that Amrozi, who learnt his fate
yesterday, has been shown no mercy. Others, who oppose the death
penalty under any circumstances, will see the sentence as a
futile instrument of revenge which can offer no real solace to
those who lost loved ones in Bali on Oct. 12 last year.

The court's decision has brought Amrozi -- and by legal
precedent his co-accused -- one step closer to death. His
sentence, however, is only one factor which will determine his
fate. How swiftly Amrozi is now executed, or whether he is
executed at all, is uncertain. This doubt is inextricably linked
to the wider danger posed by radical Islam to the Indonesian
state and to foreigners in that country.

Amrozi, who yesterday said he would appeal, had previously
declared his enthusiasm for a "martyr's death". His execution
will in no way deter those similarly prepared to commit, and to
confess to, heinous crimes. The possibility that the Marriott
Hotel blast was detonated by a suicide bomber -- and linked to
the Jemaah Islamiah terrorists responsible for the Bali blasts --
reinforces this truth. JI has not been broken. It remains a
potent threat. For operational reasons Amrozi may be more useful
to investigators alive, in custody.

Indonesia rarely executes its citizens, even for the serious
drug trafficking offenses which routinely attract the death
penalty in other countries of South-East Asia. When it does so,
the process is excruciatingly slow. The handful of prisoners
executed since 1990 had spent up to 25 years in custody. There
are presently serious political and security considerations which
might encourage Jakarta to hold Amrozi on death row.

The recent rise of radical Islam in Indonesia followed decades
of brutal political repression. Under the authoritarian regime of
the former president, Soeharto, Islamic political parties were
banned. But much popular resentment was quietly channeled into
the mosques, where it festered. When Islamic political parties
were legalized after Soeharto's fall in 1998, Muslim groups were
emboldened to demand a greater role in the nation's affairs.

Democracy has since disappointed many Indonesians by failing
to curb official corruption, combat poverty or improve the
delivery of basic services. The Indonesian people have suffered
greatly at the hands of terrorists, and deplore their actions.
Radical Islam, however, continues to offer the determined few a
dangerous vehicle for opposition. Amrozi's execution may go
ahead. But the fear then must be that the martyr's death he
craves may simply help rally more zealots to his bloody cause.

-- The Sydney Morning Herald