ASEAN attorney generals to meet in Jakarta

ASEAN attorney generals to meet in Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney generals of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will gather in Jakarta in July to
discuss the best way of handling capital punishment in cases in
which the convicts are citizens of other ASEAN member countries.

Indonesia's Attorney General Singgih said yesterday that the
conference had been planned, "in the spirit of ASEAN", in order
to prevent misunderstandings among the member countries in the
future.

He referred to the execution earlier this year in Singapore of
a Filipino maid who had been convicted of murder, which led to a
souring of relations between the two ASEAN members.

Singgih said the meeting would discuss a proposal that ASEAN
attorney generals be required to immediately notify their
relevant counterpart when a citizen of another ASEAN member state
had been condemned to death.

"This would prevent misunderstandings," he said after briefing
President Soeharto on the planned meeting.

Following the row between Manila and Singapore over the
execution of maid Flor de Contemplacion, Indonesian politicians
have urged the attorney general to investigate reports that five
Indonesian workers are on death row in Malaysia and to explore
the possibilities of securing a retrieve for the condemned
citizens.

Singgih visited Kuala Lumpur last week and met with his
Malaysian counterpart and other top justice officials.

He said that the five -- who were convicted for offenses
ranging from narcotics smuggling to larceny -- had applied to the
Malaysian authorities for a pardon.

"I did ask that they be pardoned, but not to the point of
intervening in the legal process," he said, noting that eight
other Indonesians who had been condemned to death had had their
sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

Singgih said he had also visited the five Indonesians awaiting
execution in Kuala Lumpur. "They're in fine condition. They're
all villagers, from Taliwang, Sumbawa," he said.

He said the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur had done its
part in assisting the convicts, including arranging lawyers and
translators and helping them with the documentation required to
file an appeal and, subsequently, seek clemency.

Singgih said many Indonesians who have gone to Malaysia to
work are ignorant of the local laws and the harsh penalties faced
by violators.

This applied especially to Indonesians who entered and worked
in Malaysia illegally, he said. (emb)