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.