Jakarta Globe Editorial: Okay, Mr. Tough Guy. We Get It. Now Stop.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo

What will be the exit strategy for Indonesia to extract itself from the diplomatic mess our leaders and countrymen’s insistence on executing foreign citizens for drug trafficking has caused? There’s no way out in sight, unless the executions stop.

With a total of 58 foreign nationals on death row, Indonesia is going to face increasingly intense and coordinated diplomatic protests from other nations, such as France, Britain and China, if the government insists on proceeding with all of the executions.

These countries will lodge protests because their governments will look bad domestically if they don’t go after Indonesia. There is a strong risk that relations can be harmed to such an extent as to disrupt trade and investment, as well as endanger Indonesia’s own citizens abroad.

The execution of foreign citizens is not merely about those sentenced to death: It’s also about the pride of all their countrymen. Heads of state and their diplomatic corps have a moral duty to defend the human rights of their citizens, an obligation that plays out in public for their own popularity.

Sadly, similar pride and vanity has also taken hold of President Joko Widodo, who is attempting now to look tough in the midst of a leadership crisis.

People on death row will be shot for the sake of macho posturing. Our national standing is at stake, and pressing forward with a cruel and unusual punishment, by international standards, is no way to advance our interests in the world.

Joko should consider how far he wants to pursue this course of action before it gets out of control. Now’s the time to stop without losing face. Message delivered, Mr. President. We get it, the whole world does: You mean business. Now knock it off.

Source: The Jakarta Globe, Editorial, Feb. 25, 2015

Families beg for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran’s lives on Indonesian TV

Maximum Security prison on Nusakambangan Island, central Java

The pressure on President Widodo to show mercy continues as the head of Bali Prosecutor’s office, who is in charge of arranging the transfer to Nusa Kambangan, said that there was still no date for the transfer or the executions of the Bali Nine ringleaders.

He said Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran would be transferred to Nusa Kambangan as soon as the prison island was ready.

“As soon as they ready, we send. We are ready. Soon. The sooner the better,” Momock Bambang Samiarso said at his office this morning.

“There is no delay. We keep going. Maybe the delay is because of technical issue. There is no political issue,” he said.

It came as a glimmer of hope emerged in the pending executions of Chan and Sukumaran with Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Indonesian President Joko Widodo discussing the issue last night.

And Mr Samiarso, asked if the move could be this month, said: “Everything is possible. Everything remains possible.”

“If all the things are clear, we will send. That's all. We keep coordinating with the Attorney General, with Nusa Kambangan, always coordinate” Mr Samiarso said.

He said the preparations, including the military and police, were to cater for any possibility or threat.

Meanwhile, the correction division head of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry in Central Java, Yuspahruddin, said he anticipates the new isolation cells on the island will be ready in two or three days.

“The preparation is only by building partitions, so that other prisoners cannot communicate with prisoners being isolated,” Mr Yuspahruddin said.

Asked how many isolation cells were being built, said: “We cannot explain. It is enough to fulfill the demand of the lawyer general.”

The Attorney General said yesterday that 10 prisoners will be executed in the next round of executions but he did not give any date. The 10 include nine foreigners and one Indonesian — all drug traffickers.

The Prime Minister this morning said it was a “positive sign” the pair were able to speak frankly about the issue and said he believed President Widodo was “carefully considering” his position.

“It was a positive sign that the conversation took place,” Mr Abbott told the media this morning in Canberra.

“The fact that the President of Indonesia and the Prime Minister of Australia can have these conversations is a sign of the strength of the relationship and a sign of the depth of the friendship between Australia and Indonesia.”

Mr Abbott said President Widodo “absolutely understands our position” that the executions should be halted.

“I think he is carefully considering Indonesia’s position,” he said.

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Source: news.com.au, February 26, 2015

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