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)