Rehabilitation bill silent on killing
Rehabilitation bill silent on killing
By Imanuddin
JAKARTA (JP): As the government is pushing a new bill on social rehabilitation that emphasizes reforming a criminal rather than exacting retribution, anti-capital punishment lobbyists again ask why the same principle can't be applied to all.
The government this month submitted to the House of Representatives a bill regulating the rehabilitation of criminals, including their rights and obligations as well as those of the state.
But human rights activists who have long campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty noted that the proposal excludes people on death row, currently or in the future.
In Indonesia, the death penalty is the maximum punishment for murder, drug trafficking and subversion.
"It has long been accepted that imprisonment is no longer intended as punishment, let alone vengeance, on those who have committed a crime. A convict is not an object, but a subject no different from other human being who could at anytime commit an error or negligent act subject to criminal law. A convict is not a disease that has to be eliminated or wiped out ..." states the explanatory section of the bill.
Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman, when submitting the bill, said the underlying principle of the proposed law is that the state is responsible to rehabilitate criminals so that they could return to society upon the completion of their term.
The bill, if enacted, is simply a confirmation of the current practice although this will be the first time that the rights and obligations of criminals and the state are put in a law.
Human rights activists pointed out that the bill made no reference at all to those who are given the death penalty.
Prof. Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto, a sociologist from the Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java, said there are two principles of punishment accepted in the world, one is the retributive theory and the other is the restitution theory.
Under the retributive theory, a punishment is seen as a vengeance against the convicted criminal, while the restitution theory sees a punishment as a means of rehabilitating him.
Soetandyo said both theories allow for capital punishment.
"People may see capital punishment as protection for their security and welfare, while criminals would have the opposite view of execution," he told The Jakarta Post by phone.
Soetandyo, who sits in the National Commission on Human Rights, said he personally would like to see capital punishment abolished in Indonesia.
"A criminal will not be evil forever. Sometimes, a person commits a crime because he has no choice," he said, adding that imprisonment is already a form of "vengeance".
Yopie Lasut, a human rights activist, said capital punishment is only a form of revenge against a criminal. "The life and death of a person is in the hands of God the Almighty. Not one person has the right to take the life of another."
Yopie, chairman of the Harapan Baru Foundation which looks after the welfare and safety of criminals' families, noticed that in Indonesia, executions continue even on people who have been incarcerated a long time. In some cases, those on death row had even done good deeds while awaiting execution.
He cited the example of Liong Wie Tong, alias Lazarus, who was executed in 1987 after being in jail for 20 years.
"Liong successfully preached before 200 fellow inmates during his long wait in the penitentiary," he said, adding that 20 of the criminals he preached to have since become priests.
"Liong helped guide the criminals into being good persons," Yopie said. "But why was he still executed?"
He also criticized the lengthy legal process that has kept people on death row waiting a long time with uncertainty. The long wait is "an additional punishment to them," he said.
"An inmate of a South Sumatra prison, who has been sentenced to death, once told me that his heartbeat quickened whenever a security guard approached his cell in the night," he said. The inmate is scared he will be taken in the night and executed.
Soesanto Bangoennagoro, a legislator from the ruling Golkar party, however said deliberation of the bill in the House will not be affected by the demands of the anti-capital punishment lobby.
Soesanto said he believed capital punishment should be kept as a deterrent, or protection of the people against criminals.
He also disputed the assertion that capital punishment is a form of revenge, pointing out that a criminal is executed by the state and not the relatives of the victims.
Execution in Indonesia is carried out by a firing squad.
"It is the law enforcers, on behalf of the state, that execute the criminal," he said.
The legislator said the fact that some people had to wait for a long time before being executed shows that the legal system treats the death sentence with the greatest caution and allows the condemned criminals to pursue every possible channel for a reprieve.
Another noted human rights lawyer, Trimoelja D. Soerjadi, said he is only in favor of capital punishment for the most sadistic criminals.
He said the killer of the Achmadi family in Ujung Pandang, South Sulawesi, last month and the murderer of the family members of Herbin Hutagalung in Pondok Gede, East Jakarta, last year, should both be given the death penalty.
Trimoelja said he opposes capital punishment for political prisoners, especially in Indonesia where the judges' independence of the government is still questionable.