Legislators hail death penalty for drug dealers

TANGERANG (JP): Legislators lauded the Tangerang District Court for imposing the death sentence on nine drug traffickers, including five foreigners, over the past seven months.

Eight members of the House of Representatives' Commission II on legal affairs expressed their support for the verdicts during a visit they paid to the court on Wednesday.

"It is important input for Commission II to learn that the court has imposed such stern punishment on nine drug dealers over seven months," Hamdan Zulvan, who led the delegation, told The Jakarta Post after meeting with district court President Haogoaro Harefa and his colleagues.

He said the Commission was surprised to learn that the court handled at least 10 drug cases every month.

He added that this figure might just be the tip of the iceberg as most such cases did not get as far as court.

The Tangerang District Court passed the death sentence on Nar Bahadur Tamang and Bala Tamang on Jan. 25, 2001, Til Bahadur Bandari and Bir Bahadur Gurung on Feb. 12, 2000, Thomas Daniel on Sept. 9, 2000, Deni Setia Maharwan on Augt. 2, 2000, Meirika Franola on Aug. 22, 2000, Rani Andriani on Augt. 22, and Samuel Iwu Chekwu Okoye on May 5, 2001. The first four defendants were Nepalese, while Okoye is African. The four others are Indonesians.

When asked about the Commission's stance on alleged rampant corruption in the court, Zulvan said the Commission had received similar reports about almost every court in the country.

"Nobody's arguing about it. Therefore, we warn the court president not to let his judges become contaminated by such practices, which are also rampant in almost all government institutions," he said.

Meanwhile, Harefa told the Commission members that since January the court had ruled on 480 criminal cases out of the 550 cases submitted to the court. More than 50 percent of the cases involved drug offenses.

The court had also handed down verdicts in 80 out of the 164 civil cases before it since January.

He added that the court had received a good response from the public and non-governmental organizations regarding the death sentences passed on drug traffickers.

The judges had not received any threats in connection with the verdicts, he added.

Haogoaro said that the court left matters concerning the execution of those on death row to the prosecutor's office.

He said the court had appointed two judges to monitor the convicts' conditions in jail. (01)