House Commission XIII: Death Penalty for 'Small Fry' Will Never Eradicate Drug Crime
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Chairman of House of Representatives Commission XIII Willy Aditya has argued that imposing the death penalty on “small fry” — suspects who played insignificant roles — will never meaningfully contribute to the quality of narcotics crime eradication efforts.
He considers the exposure of the narcotics smuggling case involving the vessel Sea Dragon to have only caught the small fish. He therefore questioned law enforcement authorities regarding their investigation into the mastermind behind the smuggling operation and its principal actors.
“Look at the list of defendants — one is merely a low-ranking labourer, the others are his superiors or foreign recruits from Thailand. Yet they have all been charged with identical charges. Their respective roles need to be properly examined, and the major actors must be pursued to the end,” Willy said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
As a legislator overseeing correctional affairs, he noted that Indonesian correctional facilities are currently overcrowded with narcotics convicts. However, the majority of these inmates are merely users, intermediaries, and the like.
“Very few are major drug lords. The momentum from the Sea Dragon seizure presents an excellent opportunity to pursue the big narcotics kingpins,” he said.
Furthermore, he stated that courts need to be more thorough and comprehensively examine each defendant’s involvement on a case-by-case basis. According to him, every individual within a single legal event plays a distinct role that differs from others, and this must be established first.
He argued that justice is not merely about adherence to rules, but also about humanity and common sense. Given that a number of major actors who ought to have been investigated remain unexamined, rulings against the current defendants must be handled with extreme caution.
“It defies common sense for all of them to face the death penalty without any clarity regarding their respective roles,” he said.
The Batam State Prosecutor’s Office in Riau Islands has sought the death penalty for six defendants in the case involving the smuggling of two tonnes of methamphetamine transported aboard the vessel Sea Dragon Terawa in Riau Islands waters.
The six defendants comprise two Thai nationals — Weerepat Phongwan, alias Mr Pong, and Teerapong Lekpradube — as well as four Indonesian nationals: Fandi Ramadhan, Richard Halomoan, Leo Candra Samosir, and Hasiholan Samosir.