Mixed reactions to capital punishment

M. Taufiqurrahman and Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Families of drug addicts were split over the death sentence for drug dealers while legal experts agreed that capital punishment was appropriate given the menace they pose to society.

Arisanti, 30, a sister of a drug addict, said she agreed with capital punishment for drug dealers as it would act as a deterrent for others.

"If the punishment was only physical imprisonment, there is still a possibility that a convict could bribe a guard to get them out of prison," she told The Jakarta Post.

She said that considering the suffering her family had gone through because of drugs, the death penalty was justified.

"My brother has been addicted to heroin since 1998 and has gone through a lot of suffering," she said, adding that despite all the treatment her brother had undertaken he remained a heroin addict.

She said her brother had lost his job because of heroin, and once also spent five months in prison.

"He is now a living skeleton who needs a constant supply of heroin," Arisanti said.

Oktaviani Prisilia, 22, whose has friends are addicts, contended that the death sentence was too severe as it left no chance for the convicts to be absolved.

Recently, President Megawati Soekarnoputri rejected requests for a pardon by six convicts on death row, including a drug dealer, a move that was supported by Muslim leaders.

The death sentence, however, has been increasingly criticized by rights activists, who warn of the risk of error.

Executions became standard fare in the country following the abortive coup in 1965, blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Since 1978, at least 38 people have been officially executed by the state, mostly political prisoners.

Despite mounting support and pressure on the government to execute convicted drug dealers on death row, Malaysian national Chan Ting Chong alias Steven Chong, who was sentenced to death in 1986 by the West Jakarta District Court for heroin possession, is the only person to be executed by firing squad for drug-related offenses so far. He was executed in 1995.

Currently there are 16 convicted drug dealers on death row.

Henri Yosodiningrat, a lawyer who founded the Anti-Narcotics National Movement (Granat), said that drug dealers deserved to be executed as they bring disastrous consequences to the country's youngsters.

"Currently, four million people in Indonesia are addicted to drugs, while 1,000 people die annually from drugs," he told the Post.

Henri was quick to remark that drug abuse was also responsible for the increase in crime in the country.

He said the death sentence should be imposed on traffickers regardless of the amount of drugs illegally traded.

Adding that drug dealers were often part of an international syndicate, he said: "Even if drug dealers are not caught red- handed, they still deserve severe punishment based only on testimony from witnesses," Henri said.

Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, a legal expert from the University of Indonesia, said the death penalty was appropriate for drug dealers as it would deter others from committing such a crime.

"Drugs cause damage to youngsters, therefore the death sentence is worth the negative impacts," she said.

Although Harkristuti was ambivalent about the effectiveness of the death sentence for other major crimes, she agreed that if all legal proceedings had been undertaken in the case of drug dealers, they should be immediately be executed.

On the part of the convicts, they can only become resigned to the fact that they will soon have to face a firing squad, while pleading for clemency.

"I will plead for a reduced sentence so I can do good deeds for my mother," one of the convicts, Edith Yunita Sianturi, said in deep remorse.