Death penalty to stay: Attorney General

Death penalty to stay: Attorney General

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Attorney General Abdul Rachman Saleh says Indonesia will continue
to impose the death penalty for certain crimes, as the country
lacks competent law enforcement institutions.

"I think the death penalty remains relevant," he said
on the sidelines of a seminar on the death penalty sponsored by
the European Union here on Tuesday.

The seminar was attended by Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia and
EU President Ruud Treffers, European Commission Charge d'Affaires
Ulrich Eckle, Hungary Ambassador Gyorgy Busztin, France
Ambassador Renaud Vignal, United Kingdom Ambassador Charles
Humfrey and Germany Ambassador Joachim Broudre-Groger.

Unlike developed countries, Abdul Rahman argued, Indonesia was
a poor country that could not provide free-of-charge medication
for the rehabilitation of drug users.

"They are forced onto the streets (and increase the crime
rate) while our police, prosecutors, penitentiaries and other law
enforcers remain weak.

"If we abolished it, I'm afraid we would send the wrong
message to drug traffickers," he said.

Abdul Rahman said his office would continue to impose the
death penalty for cases involving drugs, corruption, human rights
abuse, terrorism and treason.

"From 1945 to 2003, we only executed 15 convicts," he said.

An Indian national and two Thai citizens were recently
executed by firing squad for smuggling drugs into the country.

Among some 60 convicts on death row -- mostly there for drug-
related offenses -- a convicted murderer in South Sumatra is
expected to be executed soon after the Supreme Court rejected his
plea for a judicial review.

Jurit, the convict, was condemned to death for two separate
murders in 1997.

Two prominent lawyers, Todung Mulya Lubis and Frans Hendra
Winarta, have raised their opposition to the use of the death
penalty, saying the Constitution guarantees the rights to live.

"The Constitution is the highest law in the country. Isn't it
contradictory if lower laws justify the death penalty?" Todung
said.

Frans added that the country's weak legal system raised the
possibility that innocent people could be put to death.

"(A death sentence case) must be tried by a just, independent,
impartial and competent court. At the moment, we just don't have
this in our court system," said Frans.

Busztin said that the EU did not demand that Indonesia abolish
the death penalty, but hoped that the issue would be further
discussed.

"Maybe (Indonesia) could put on hold the execution of those
condemned to death," he said.

Brodre-Groger said that there was no justification for capital
punishment, which would not settle conflicts and could incite new
ones instead.

Spanish Ambassador Damaso De Lario -- whose country faces the
separatism movement of Basque's ETA, and recently suffered a
train bombing -- raised the possibility that the use of the death
penalty could incite new terrorist attacks.

"A terrorist killed can always be claimed as a martyr so he
will encourage others to keep on killing people," he argued.

Following the Bali bombings in 2002, Indonesia issued an
antiterror law acknowledging the maximum penalty of death.