Scholars, police call for review of execution process
Scholars, police call for review of execution process
JAKARTA (JP): Although the date of execution for 35-year-old
murderer Karta Cahyadi, alias Yongki, has not yet been made
public, scholars and senior police officers have suggested the
execution be opened to the public as an effective general
deterrent.
"It's better to allow the public and the press, except
children, to watch the execution process in order to effectively
meet the main aim of the penalty, which is to remind people about
harsh punishment," Supreme Court Justice Bismar Siregar told The
Jakarta Post yesterday.
According to Bismar, the current rule which only allows
limited observers, such as prosecutors, police officers and
medical personnel, at an execution has no direct impact on the
public.
"Islam teaching also recommends the public witness the
imminent execution of a convicted person, like in many Arabic
countries," Bismar said.
Professor Muladi, rector of the University of Diponegoro in
Semarang, Central Jakarta, and former deputy police chief for
operational affairs, Maj. Gen. (ret.) Koesparmono Irsan share
Bismar's view. Each were contacted at a seminar on organized
crime at the Police Sciences College here.
"An execution could be, for example, attended by the convicted
person's relatives and the public, including journalists," said
Muladi, who is also a member of the government-sponsored National
Committee for Human Rights.
By allowing witnesses, the real target of capital punishment,
that is, deterring the committing of heinous crimes, could be met
effectively.
"Based on the current rule, only few police officers who carry
out the execution could feel and describe the situation of the
punishment," Muladi said. "It gives no significant and direct
message to the public," he said.
According to Koesparmono the strict rule for witnesses at an
execution could be reviewed.
"There is nothing wrong with it as long as the criminal has
accepted the punishment," Koesparmono said.
Yongki, a resident of Jakarta, was sentenced to death by the
district court in Surakarta, Central Java, in 1990 for the brutal
murder of three people in a house which he was robbing.
The house Yongki robbed belonged to Utomo Kasidi, a distant
relative of his. The three victims were Utomo's 11-year old son
Danny, Utomo's 40-year-old brother Sasongko Suryo, and a 23-year
old housemaid, Lasiyem.
The government has agreed to Yongki's request that he be
executed in Jakarta.
Head of the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office Soejoto said
yesterday, "There is a possibility that Yongki is to be executed
on Friday."
Soejoto told reporters after holding an internal meeting in
his office that according to some Christians' belief, those who
die on the same day of the death of Jesus Christ will have
blessings. This year the death of Jesus Christ will be
commemorated tomorrow.
Soejoto, however, declined to mention the exact date of
execution.
Yongki's accomplice, Tugiman, also received the death sentence
and is still waiting for a reply from the president to his
request for clemency.
The convicted men made off with valuables they had found in
the house, including Utomo's car. The total loot was estimated to
have been worth about Rp 40 million (US$18,000).
Yongki has exhausted all legal channels for a possible
reprieve. His last resort, an appeal for presidential clemency,
was turned down on March 27.
Indonesia has already executed two men this year. The first
was a Malaysian who was convicted of drug trafficking in Jakarta,
and the second was a retired Army sergeant who was convicted for
murdering an entire family in North Sulawesi in 1985.
Both of them were executed by an elite Brimob police firing
squad. (bsr/imn)