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)