May 7
CHINA:
Kiwi's China drug trial to begin
A young New Zealander facing drugs charges and a possible death penalty goes on
trial today in China.
Peter Gardner, 25, has been detained in China accused of trying to smuggle 40kg
of methamphetamine out of the country.
A trial for Gardner, a dual citizen of New Zealand and Australia, was set to be
begin today.
It was expected to last no longer than 2 days.
Gardner's former boss Michael Kulakovski, earlier told The New Zealand Herald
he was surprised to hear of the charges.
"He's a young kid who's got so much ahead of him, so it's shame if he gets
convicted."
Gardner was a "great guy," he added.
The 25-year-old was expected to plead not guilty in a case that 3 judges will
hear in a small Guangzhou courtroom, News Corporation reported.
"If he is convicted he will have 10 days to launch an appeal," Chen Yong,
partner of Guangzhou Baijian Law Firm told News Corp Australia.
(source: New Zealand Herald)
INDONESIA:
Indonesian court postpones appeal of Frenchman on death row
An Indonesian court Thursday postponed the start of an appeal by a Frenchman on
death row to next week, indicating the country's slow-moving justice system
could delay his execution for some time yet.
Serge Atlaoui, 51, had been due to face the firing squad with 7 other foreign
drug convicts last week but was removed from the list after authorities agreed
to let an outstanding legal appeal run its course.
It was due to start at the Jakarta State Administrative Court on Thursday,
however judge Ujang Abdullah adjourned the case to next Wednesday after
Atlaoui's lawyer failed to attend as she was ill.
In the appeal, Atlaoui, a welder, is challenging President Joko Widodo's
decision to reject his request for clemency, claiming the Indonesian leader did
not properly consider his case.
A plea for presidential clemency is typically a death row convict's final
chance to avoid the firing squad.
The latest legal bid is widely expected to fail -- an appeal filed in the same
court by 2 Australian traffickers was rejected, and the pair were among those
put to death last week.
However the Australians' appeal took weeks to resolve due to repeated delays.
Following Thursday's adjournment, a French diplomatic source told AFP: "The
Indonesian legal process is following its usual course and that could take some
time."
France stepped up pressure on Indonesia in recent weeks to abandon plans to put
Atlaoui to death, with President Francois Hollande warning of "consequences" if
the execution goes ahead.
Atlaoui was arrested in a 2005 raid on a secret drug laboratory outside
Jakarta. He has maintained his innocence, claiming that he was installing
machinery in what he thought was an acrylics plant.
However, police say he was a "chemist" in the drugs factory.
Indonesia's execution last week of 7 foreign drug convicts -- 2 from Australia,
1 from Brazil, and 4 Nigerians -- sparked a firestorm of international anger,
with Canberra recalling its ambassador from Jakarta.
But Indonesia stayed the execution of Filipina Mary Jane Veloso, who was
supposed to face the firing squad with them, after the woman who allegedly
recruited and duped her into carrying a suitcase hiding heroin turned herself
in to authorities.
British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford, 58, is also on death row in Indonesia
and said last week she feared her execution could be imminent and had started
writing goodbye letters to family.
Widodo has insisted he will not change course on the death penalty, as
Indonesia faces an emergency due to rising narcotics use.
(source: ionteraksyon.com)
***************
Indonesia says tourism not hit by campaign over death sentences
The number of Australian visitors to Indonesia rose in March and the island
nation's tourism industry has seen no impact from a Boycott Bali protest over
death sentences passed on two Australian drug traffickers, a government
official said.
Nia Niscaya, director of international tourism promotion at the Minister of
Tourism, said however that figures for April, the month when the executions of
a total of 8 drug traffickers were actually carried out, were not yet
available.
Death penalty opponents launched the Boycott Bali protests after the
traffickers, arrested in Bali, were condemned.
Visitors from Australia, with has deep commercial and political ties with its
neighbour, rose 6.6 % to 84,400 in March, according to data from Indonesia's
tourism ministry.
This increase showed the boycott had had no impact on Indonesia's tourism
sector, Niscaya told Reuters. Figures for April were not yet available, she
said.
Australia is Indonesia's 3rd biggest source market for foreign visitors, behind
Singapore and Malaysia.
Tourism represents a small, but growing part of Indonesia's economy, generating
receipts of about $9.85 billion a year, while total gross domestic product was
$868.3 billion in 2013, according to World Bank data.
TOURIST VISAS
Indonesia aims to attract 20 million tourists annually within 5 years, which
would be roughly double 2014's total of 9.44 million, Niscaya said.
The country's target for 2015 is 12 million visitors, which would be a 27 %
annual increase, steeper than 2014's rise of 7.2 %.
As part of this push, the country will extend visa-free travel to another 30
countries by the end of May, up from 15 at present, Niscaya said. These will
include states from Europe, the Middle East and Asia, she said, predicting this
would help attract an extra 500,000 visitors annually.
Niscaya said the government had raised its annual tourism marketing budget to
1.3 trillion rupiahs, from 300 billion rupiahs previously, to help achieve its
aims, while additional flight routes from the likes of Dubai-based airline
Emirates would also swell visitor numbers.
"Not only from the Middle East but all over the world because Dubai is a hub,"
said Niscaya.
About 2.3 million tourists visited Indonesia in the 1st quarter of 2015, up 3.5
% year-on-year, ministry data showed.
(source: Reuters)
******************
They asked for mercy, but there was none
I can never understand why they had to be shot to death especially after they
had repented and shown remorse
Like so many around the world, I was hoping Indonesian President Joko Widodo
would pardon the 8 condemned at the last minute. They asked for mercy, but
there was none.
I can try to understand their anguish but I can never understand why they had
to be shot to death especially after they had repented and shown remorse.
At that moment my wife, Kim, happened to be reading an article by Wang Mingdao.
She showed it to me. Then I understood why Jokowi could show no mercy. But they
did not die in vain. All 8 refused the blindfolds. They stared death in the eye
and sang hymns and praises to their God till they were cut down by the cruel
burst of gunfire.
Indonesia, as in many countries like Malaysia and Singapore, imposes the
mandatory death penalty for drug-related offenses even though there is no
empirical evidence correlating the death penalty to crime reduction. This
barbaric law has no place in our society, any society. There is absolutely no
justification.
Given a chance, criminals can be reformed and even transformed as in this case
of these 8. The sane thing to do is to give them a second shot at life but the
law as it stands is impotent to do this. This is where grace steps in. Amazing
Grace.
Immediately following their executions, the families of Australians Myuran and
Andrew said in a statement: "In the 10 years since they were arrested, they did
all they could to make amends, helping many others. They asked for mercy, but
there was none."
Reading the article "The Relevance of the Atonement" by Wang Mingdao (1900 -
1991), it became clear to me why the Indonesian law could show no mercy to the
8 even though there is a provision for presidential clemency. They had asked
for mercy, but there was none.
Wang, who was among the pioneering Christian leaders in China like Dr John Sung
and Watchman Nee, was no stranger to suffering. Both he and his wife were
repeatedly tortured in prison and labor camps for 22 years simply on account of
their beliefs. Mrs Wang was released only in 1973, blind in one eye, and Wang
in the end of 1979, old, toothless, and nearly blind and deaf.
Wang cited the case of a murderer who repented and became a Christian and who
had been "completely reformed," yet was eventually executed. He too had asked
for mercy, but there was none.
He wrote: "As we talked about this matter (with fellow Christians) I sat on my
chair and thought ...Was God's law even more severe than man's? Was God not
holier than man? And did not God hate sin more than man did? If that was so,
was it not perplexing that one who had repented of his sin could be forgiven by
God but not forgiven by man?"
He said, "I continued to ponder this question when suddenly an important truth
lit up my heart like a flash of lightning." He continued: "The explanation was
clear. God could forgive this man, greatly though he had sinned, because where
God was concerned there was a Savior. That Savior had already accepted
punishment and died in his place. Yet where the laws of the land were concerned
there was no arrangement (indeed there could not be) for a savior to die in his
place. So although he had shown contrition and had repented, it was till
necessary for him to undergo the punishment ordained by the law."
Those who were executed asked for mercy, but there was none under the law of
the land. However, when they asked for grace, it made the difference. A crowd
of relatives and local Christians had kept a candlelight vigil outside and
someone recited part of Psalm 23 - The Lord is my Shepherd - in Indonesian,
"Sekalipun aku berjalan melalui lembah bayang bayang maut, aku tidak takut
bahaya,kerana Engkaulah yang menyertai aku." (Even though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me).
The 8 then walked to their death singing "Amazing Grace."
(source: Commentary; Bob Teoh is a freelance journalist in Malaysia and a
former prison volunteer and missionary. He was formerly the secretary general
of the Jakarta-based Confederation of Asean Journalists----rappler.com)
*****************
Antony De Malmanche had no translator or lawyer, drug trial told
A Bali drug squad officer has told the trial of an accused Kiwi drug mule he
didn't seek a translator or lawyer for the accused man when he was first
interrogated.
Antony De Malmanche was intercepted at Bali's international airport in December
carrying 1.7kg of methamphetamine and he could face the death penalty.
He argues he was the victim of an online scam and didn't know the drugs were in
his backpack.
Bali drug squad officer I Made Bayu told his trial on Thursday that de
Malmanche was not questioned in the presence of a lawyer and was not offered
one.
A fellow officer acted as a translator.
"Because I can't speak English, I asked my friend Ngurah Wirya to be the
interpreter," he said.
The officer believed there was no need to fingerprint the drugs after de
Malmanche said the backpack was his.
"The defendant had admitted that the bag was his," he said.
Outside court, de Malmanche's lawyer, Chris Harno, slammed the investigators'
actions.
"If the fingerprinting was done, I believe you would find (the drugs) didn't
belong to Antony," he said.
The trial continues next week.
(source: stuff.co.nz)
***************
Every Mary Jane----Mary Jane is alive, but that fact pales against the bruised
dignity of a public shaken out of its imagined narrative. The heroine is a
harridan. The victim is a shrew. Off with their heads.
We know this story. She was born 30 years ago in a village called Caudillo to a
contractual laborer and his wife. She dropped out of high school after her 1st
year, was married at 17, had 2 children, was estranged from her husband, and
left for Dubai to work as a domestic helper, only to return 10 months later
because "someone want to rape me."
We know that she began looking for work overseas a year later, had gone back
and forth from Manila to Nueva Ecija to meet with a placement agency. We know
she was unsuccessful, until she was offered a job in Malaysia by a neighbor
named Cristina.
We know all about Maria Cristina Sergio, the woman "all the village knew," the
one who flew to Malaysia every week and came home with her luggage full of
shampoo and lotion and perfume. We are told that the young mother of 2 was 25
when she left Cabanatuan, that she thought "it was a blessing" when she packed
her 2 shirts and 2 pairs of pants. We know she flew to Malaysia with Cristina
and was told that promised employment was no longer available. She was taken on
a shopping spree instead, was given a new suitcase when her clothes didn't fit
into her backpack, and was told that a domestic position had opened in
Indonesia.
The particulars of what happened in the Indonesian airport one Sunday in 2010
are now part of our collective memory - the questioning in the terminal, the
request for inspection, the emptied suitcase passing through the machine,
twice, thrice, the blade cutting through the lining, the discovery of the black
plastic bag with the brown powder wrapped in aluminum foil.
We know how it ended. The sentence was death, and of the 9 who were meant to
die at Indonesia's Execution Island in the early hours of April 29, she was 3rd
in line.
The battle for Mary Jane
It took 5 years on death row before saving Mary Jane Veloso became a national
moral imperative. The interviews went viral. The government took action. The
hashtag trended. The pressure surged. Public involvement pushed political will.
Join the rally, sign the petition, write the letter, spread the word, demand
answers, move, pray, fax, protest, send, tweet, hurry, now, today.
Have mercy, wrote the boxer in Las Vegas. Please, said the actress in Manila.
Save the young mother, said the nation. Save the poor, uneducated, innocent
daughter of a weeping mother.
For Neal Cruz she was the girl with the "innocent face" that "will break your
heart." Her behavior, said Francisco Tatad, "was nothing less than a complete
surrender to the "Divine Will." She was "a victim many times over," said Beth
Angsioco, and there is "no reason to not believe this poor, unschooled,
desperate mother who only wanted to do good for her sons."
The refrain played over the airwaves and across thousands of miles. In the
month before Mary Jane Veloso was sentenced to stand before a firing squad, the
world listened as Filipinos rallied behind the single cause of her survival.
Progressive party Bayan Muna condemned the national government's alleged
inaction, and asked the Indonesian government for time.
"Everything," they said, "should be done to prove her innocence first, because
it would be terribly wrong to execute an innocent person."
Of saints and heroines
We know their story. She is a 43-year-old mother of 4. She is a 14-year-old
teenager who claimed to be 28. The death sentence might be a noose around a
neck, or a firing squad in a desert, for crimes that may or may not have been
murder or double murder.
The particulars of Flor Contemplacion and Sarah Balabagan's stories are
uncertain. Both were sentenced to death for murder, Contemplacion was hanged,
Balabagan was reprieved. Their lives were reenacted in cinema, and while
television episodes and newspaper articles continue to revisit their stories,
the stories have evolved and some facts remain in dispute.
What is true is that their stories fired the national imagination, building
into massive campaigns and drawing support from the international community. In
the last 2 decades, their names have evolved into metaphors for victimization,
the extremity of their suffering illuminating the dangers of migrant work and
the desperate condition of the very poor.
To tell their stories is to tell Mary Jane's, in an arc that is beginning to
prove effective. She is poor. She is female. She was forced, by virtue of birth
and education and a failure of governance, to find work far away from the
safety of country and family, and was sentenced to death for a crime she did
not commit.
Suppose we tell Mary Jane's story another way.
Suppose she were brassy-haired and sharp-tongued, with fading red lipstick and
chipped stiletto heels. Suppose she had abandoned her brood of children.
Suppose there were rumors of whoring and thieving. Suppose she didn't pray.
Suppose she knew about the 2.6 kilograms of heroin in the suitcase she rolled
down Indonesian immigration. Suppose it is Cristina who is the victim and whose
narrative proves true. Suppose Mary Jane was willing to risk her freedom for
the few thousand dollars she was promised.
Suppose, just suppose, that Mary Jane Veloso is guilty.
The 'drug mules'
In 2008, Ramon Credo, 42 and Sally Villanueva, 33 and Elizabeth Batain, 38,
were sentenced to death for smuggling heroin into China. The execution date
came 3 years later.
There seemed, at the time, to be a public consensus that the 3 may have been
guilty of smuggling. A 2011 blog entry by veteran journalist Ellen Tordesillas
described a man-on-the-street survey shot by television show TV Patrol, where
interviewees were asked whether the 3 deserved execution. Eighty percent
answered in the affirmative.
Filipino diplomats were said to have described the 3 convicts as drug mules who
were "recruited by transnational drug syndicates to act as couriers." CNN
quoted the unnamed diplomats as saying the couriers were promised fees ranging
from a few hundred to several thousand dollars.
"There is a stark difference between the cases of Contemplacion and Balabagan
vis-a-vis the drug mules in China," wrote then law professor and University of
the Philippines College of Law dean Raul Pangalangan in an Inquirer column.
"For Contemplacion, accused of murder, we argued that she made her first
confession without the benefit of counsel. For Sarah, a rape victim, we argued
self-defense. In none of our pleas to China do we even plead the innocence of
the convicted Filipinos."
There were protests, but the campaign did not carry the same weight as the
crusade to save Mary Jane, a movement that cut across age, class and political
ideology. Ramon Credo, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, and Elizabeth Batain were
executed through lethal injection on March 30, 2011.
"3 Filipino drug mules executed in China," read the Philippine Daily Inquirer
headline. "3 Filipino drug couriers executed in China," read ABS-CBN News.
There is a double standard in place here, and it is a dangerous one. Headlines
for Mary Jane's case do not refer to her as a drug mule or a smuggler. She is
called by her name, or as the "Pinay on death row" or "OFW on death row." There
is yet to be a local headline that reads, "Drug mule execution delayed."
Certainly no local headline read "Filipino murderer executed" after Flor
Contemplacion was hanged.
Let her hang
For a moment - a short moment - Filipinos stood for Mary Jane, along with
Indonesian human rights groups and world leaders and an international community
aware that any country with the death penalty threatens all humanity.
On May 1, Celia Veloso, Mary Jane's mother publicly accused the President and
his government of failing to protect her daughter.
The response was immediate. The administration defended its contributions. The
left listed gaps in assistance. The Internet surged with the enraged, demanding
blood over the family's ingratitude.
We should have let her die, they said. She should have been allowed to hang,
they said. Her mother should hang with her, they said.
Our identity is marked by many things: peaceful revolution, free speech, gender
equality, even our apparent and notorious sensitivity to disparaging jokes made
on Desperate Housewives. Yet given the many and varied ways we have chosen to
define ourselves as a country, this is one of the most important: this nation
will not kill.
The death penalty is no longer in force in the Philippines. We have, as a
nation, decided that the execution of any citizen is an act so cruel and so
unusual that it can never be justified against even the most guilty. We call
the premeditated killing of any man murder, regardless of whether that man is a
pedophile, a mass murderer, or a political enemy. We are aware of the risk of
innocent deaths and corrupted judiciaries. We know that the fear of capital
punishment has never been an effective deterrent for crime.
In the end, our opposition to capital punishment is not so much about who the
criminals are, but who we are.
It took only minutes for the crusade for Mary Jane to turn into a public
lynching. Mary Jane is alive, but that fact pales against the bruised dignity
of a public shaken out of its imagined narrative. The heroine is a harridan.
The victim is a shrew. Off with their heads.
We know this story too.
Call in the cavalry
Even as we demand better from the government, the continuing saga of Mary Jane
Veloso demonstrates just how conditional our own convictions are. We wax
eloquent over the people we believe innocent, the inmates we consider victims,
the narratives that appeal to our emotions, forgetting, perhaps, that the fact
of being sentenced to death is a victimization in itself.
It should be that all that it takes for us to launch a cavalry is the prospect
of a woman forced to stand before a medieval firing squad, waiting for a bullet
to stop her heart. There are 92 Filipinos around the world on death row today.
Some of them may be guilty, and some of them might be ungrateful, but the fact
they are outside the country under laws that are not our own does not excuse us
from the obligation of protest.
We've seen what public sentiment can do. The campaign is not just to free our
own people, it is to make sure capital punishment is never made into law again,
and to work for an end to the death penalty elsewhere.
If we continue to choose who to defend, which cases to pursue, whose families
to pity, and for which deaths we need to hold the government accountable,
people will die, and they will die on our watch. We may still fail, as
Australia and Brazil and Ghana failed on April 29, but there may be one more
dead man who will live because we tried.
We know this story.
(source: rappler.com)
*************************
Sir Richard Branson responds to smuggler on death row
Sir Richard Branson has responded to an appeal by a British drugs smuggler on
death row in Indonesia.
Lindsay Sandiford, 58, from Cheltenham, who is facing death by firing squad,
wrote to Sir Richard after he spoke out against recent executions.
She asked him to "help promote the fundraising effort my supporters have begun
to pay for a final appeal against the death penalty".
Sir Richard said he was following Ms Sandiford's case closely.
"I strongly believe that the death penalty is a cruel and inhumane punishment,
and every execution is one execution too many," the Virgin Group founder said.
"We are following Lindsay Sandiford's and other cases closely and fully support
efforts that are currently underway to aid her appeal."
'Executed at any time'
Ms Sandiford has been in jail since 2012 after arriving in Bali from Thailand
carrying drugs with a street value of 1.6m pounds.
Last week, she paid tribute on her Facebook account to Myuran Sukumaran and her
"good friend" Andrew Chan, 2 of the 8 prisoners who were shot dead last month.
Ms Sandiford, who is originally from Redcar in Teesside, said she could be
"executed at any time" as she did not have "any proper legal representation"
during her trial.
She appealed to Sir Richard to use his "influence and position to speak out" on
behalf of people on death row.
Another appeal against Ms Sandiford's conviction due to be put before the
Indonesian Supreme Court was being prepared, her lawyer has said.
A campaign to raise funds for her appeal has raised just over 16,200 New
Zealand dollars (7,975 pounds).
(source: BBC news)
***************************
Protest During U.N. High-Level Meeting to Condemn Executions in Indonesia For
Drug Offenses----NY Action Outside U.N. To Protest Death Penalty in the Recent
Executions in Indonesia For Drug Offenses
On May 7, the United Nations (U.N.) will hold a High-Level Meeting to discuss
international drug policy, in preparation for a United Nations General Assembly
Special Session on drugs in 2016. The Special Session will be the largest
international drug policy event in decades, the 1st of its kind since 1998. On
May 7, U.N. ambassadors, Ministers, and high level delegates from around the
world will meet at the U.N. in NY to discuss achievements and challenges in
international drug policy. In recent years, a growing number of countries are
pushing for an open debate to discuss alternatives beyond punitive approaches.
This movement was first lead by former Heads of State, such as Ruth Dreifuss of
Switzerland, who will be speaking at Thursday's event, and is now being
continued by current Presidents, especially in Latin America.
"The veneer of consensus that for so long sustained the failed global drug war
and insulated it from critical examination is now broken," said Ethan
Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. "The stage is being
set for a new global drug control paradigm for the 21st century better grounded
in science, health and human rights."
On the same day, groups will gather outside the U.N. to protest Indonesia's
execution last week of 8 people for drug offenses. Despite repeated pleas for
mercy from family members, citizens, human rights organizations, the U.N., and
governments around the world, Indonesia proceeded with the executions. U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has said that the U.N. opposes the use of the
death penalty for drug related crimes, however, over 30 countries around the
world continue to use capital punishment for drug offenses, executing thousands
of people a year.
"The recent executions in Indonesia of people charged with non-violent drug
crimes are abhorrent," said Mike Selick, Policy and Participant Action
Coordinator at New York Harm Reduction Educators. "As the United Nations holds
a High-Level Thematic Debate on drugs, we stand united with organizations
around the world to demand action to end the use of the death penalty for
non-violent drug offenses."
The groups, including VOCAL-NY, NYHRE, Drug Policy Alliance and others are
gathering to protest the use of the death penalty for drug offenses and will
gather at the U.N. entrance on the corner of 1st Avenue and 47th Street at 1:30
pm on Thursday, May 7.
Earlier this week, a broad coalition of over 100 human rights and drug policy
organizations released an open letter calling for a new approach to drug policy
that emphasizes human rights over punitive policies and criminalization. It
also calls for flexibility for countries to pursue new policies, including
legalization, as well as eventual revision of the U.N. drug control treaties.
The signatories include the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch,
Global Exchange, Drug Policy Alliance and the Ella Baker Center for Human
Rights, as well as a number of organizations dedicated to health policy and
AIDS services.
"Existing US and global drug control policies that heavily emphasize
criminalization of drug use, possession, production and distribution are
inconsistent with international human rights standards and have contributed to
serious human rights violations," the statement reads. The groups "call for a
significant shift in global drug policy in line with international human rights
standards, and that prioritizes health, including access to medicines,
security, and development."
(source: drugpolicy.org)
BANGLADESH:
Youth to hang for abduction, murder of 7-year-old boy
A Dhaka court has sent 27-year-old Md Jahirul Islam to the gallows for the
abduction and murder of a 7-year-old Sifat Ali Tonmoy in Mirpur 3 years ago.
Dhaka's Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal Judge Tanjina Islam
gave the order on Thursday with the convict on the dock.
Along with the death penalty, Islam was also fined Tk 100,000.
According to case details, Tonmoy was kidnapped on Mar 26, 2012 when playing at
the field of Darus Salam Government Primary School in Mirpur.
His father Hazrat Ali filed an abduction case with Mirpur police later in the
day.
Later, Tk 800,000 was demanded as ransom over phone. Detective Police traced
the call and arrested Islam, a second-floor tenant of Ali on the next day.
Islam admitted that he had strangled Tonmoy since he was not paid the ransom.
Based on his confession, the body was recovered wrapped in a bag from inside
the house.
The judge heard 17 testimonies before giving the verdict.
(source: bdnews24.com)
AUSTRALIA:
Bali 9: Most Australians oppose recall of ambassador to Indonesia over
executions
Most Australians oppose the recall of the nation's ambassador to Indonesia in
response to the executions of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, a new poll has
found.
But 1/3 of those surveyed would support a longer suspension of normal
diplomatic relations with Indonesia.
A poll of 1200 people conducted for the Lowy Institute for International Policy
suggest Australians would prefer a restrained response to the executions, and
are concerned about damaging Australia's relationship with its northern
neighbour.
"Despite strong opposition to the death penalty for drug trafficking, it seems
that Australians are cautious about taking strong actions against Indonesia in
response to the executions," Lowy Institute executive director Michael
Fullilove said.
In the poll taken between May 1 and May 3, only 42 % of respondents said
Australia should recall its ambassador. Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced
the withdrawal of the ambassador on April 29.
Only 28 % of respondents supported suspending Australian aid projects, while 27
% supported suspending military and law enforcement cooperation and only 24 %
approved of applying trade sanctions.
The option which attracted the most support was making private diplomatic
protests, which was supported by 59 % of respondents.
When presented with a range of possible time periods and asked for how long
Australia should suspend normal diplomatic relations with Indonesia, the
shortest option, of 1 to 4 months received the most support, at 51 % while 34 %
of respondents supported a longer suspension.
The poll suggests the executions will have little impact on Australians' travel
plans or buying habits. When asked whether the executions would make them more
or less likely to travel to Indonesia or buy Indonesian products, 63 % and 71 %
respectively said it would make no difference.
When asked on the weekend after the executions whether the death penalty should
be used as a penalty for drug trafficking, 71 % said it should not. A slight
majority (51 %) said Australia should play an active role in pushing for the
global abolition of the death penalty, while 45 % said Australia should not
play such a role.
(source: Sydney Morning Herald)
********************
Executed Australian's mother writes emotional letter to Indonesian
leader----'Think for a second, one of your children is tied to post, and men
are lined up in front of them and the fear he would have felt, and then your
child is shot through the heart'
The mother of an Australian executed in Indonesia has written a heartrending
open letter to the country's president, accusing him of "humiliating" the drug
trafficker's family and ignoring repeated pleas for mercy.
Myuran Sukumaran, 34, was executed by firing squad with another Australian,
Andrew Chan, and 5 other foreign drug convicts last week, sparking a storm of
international condemnation.
Australia withdrew its ambassador to Jakarta in protest at what it called the
"cruel and unnecessary" executions of the pair, who were ringleaders in a plot
to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia.
Despite the global outrage, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has stayed firm in
his support for the death penalty, insisting that Indonesia is facing an
emergency due to rising narcotics use.
In an open letter addressed to "Dr Mr President, Leader of Indonesia and father
of three children", Sukumaran's mother Raji described her son as "reformed" and
"full of life, love and passion", adding he had helped many other prisoners in
their rehabilitation.
"I just asked you not to order his death but instead you ignored me and many
others," she wrote.
"I asked to meet you, to speak to you but once again you could not even have
the courage to face our requests to communicate with you."
She said that in recent months she had watched Jokowi "openly discussing the
way in which he would die, parading and humiliating our family".
"I want to ask you to put your family in my situation," she continued.
"Think for a second, one of your children is tied to post, and men are lined up
in front of them and the fear he would have felt, and then your child is shot
through the heart," she added.
Raji Sukumaran finished the letter saying she would pray "for the many other
men and women whose lives are in your hands, especially those on death row.
"I pray that you will have the courage to look beyond the politics for they too
have families who love them despite their mistakes."
The bodies of Sukumaran and Chan were sent home to Australia at the weekend,
and are expected to be buried soon.
While the executions have cast a shadow over the often tense relationship
between Jakarta and Canberra, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said he
is confident ties will be restored.
(source: rappler.com)
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