Right or wrong, convicted Indonesians need legal aid
Right or wrong, convicted Indonesians need legal aid
SEMARANG (JP): Indonesian citizens on death row in Malaysia need legal assistance from their countrymen, regardless of their immigration status, a leading human rights activist said.
Muladi, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights said last week that, although some of the five Indonesians might be illegal immigrants, Indonesian lawyers must come and try to provide legal aid.
"Indonesian lawyers should be obliged to help them, and put it to the Malaysian court to consider clemency," he told The Jakarta Post.
Five Indonesian workers are presently on death row in Malaysia. They are convicted of crimes ranging from narcotic trafficking, murder to armed robbery. Initially there were 13, but eight have been pardoned and have had their sentences reduced to life imprisonment.
Attorney General Singgih and Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief visited Malaysia last week to discuss with Malaysian officials issues concerning Indonesian workers there. But neither was willing to disclose whether they had appealed to the Malaysian government to reconsider the death sentences.
Singgih said the five convicts were not workers at all but criminals.
Muladi agreed that Indonesia should not meddle in Malaysia's internal legal affairs, but said that providing legal assistance was not a form of intervention because the task should be done not only by Indonesian lawyers but through cooperation with the Malaysians as well.
He said lawyers' organizations in Indonesia, such as the Indonesian Bar Association, could play a major role in such cases.
Muladi said that before a death sentence is executed, the court must comply with international regulations on the procedure and technicalities of the execution.
"Apart from providing legal assistance, Indonesia could also stress the importance of abiding by these international regulations and instruments," he said.
Nyoman Sarekat Putra Jaya, a lecturer of law at the Diponegoro University, said it was necessary to establish bilateral or regional settlements, such as extradition agreements, with other Southeast Asian countries, to anticipate similar cases in the future.
Nyoman said that although Indonesia currently has extradition agreements with Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, there have always been difficulties in enforcing Indonesian laws on Indonesian citizens who commit a crime in a neighboring country.
Such difficulties, he said, usually occur because a clause allows the country in which the crime was committed to refuse to turn over the accused criminal, on the grounds that the crime was committed within that country's jurisdiction and should therefore be prosecuted in that country.
Nyoman argued that the most effective way to end such problems, especially between neighboring countries, was through diplomatic channels, comparative studies and cooperation between the legal bodies of both countries.
A number of senior lawyers of the Indonesian Bar Association said on Tuesday that they planned to visit Malaysia this week to gather information on the convicts.
Ramdlon Naning, spokesperson for the group, said in a statement that the lawyers would meet with Sudarmadi, the Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia; Markandi bin Dul Samad, an Indonesian convict sentenced to death, who was pardoned; and members of the Malaysian Bar Association.
Naning said the group's visit, led by the association's chairman, Harjono Tjitrosoebono, was not meant to meddle in Malaysia's internal affairs. "The association has always been concerned with whoever needs our help, especially fellow Indonesians," Naning said.
The association made a similar attempt in 1992, and saved the life of Salidin Muhammad, who was accused of murdering Liong Kuan Poh in a street brawl in Malaysia in 1989. (har/pwn)