Indonesia - Indonesia Potential Ally in Death Penalty Abolition

Indonesia would set a powerful example for other Southeast Asian countries if it abolished the death penalty, according to  the Lowy Institute for International Policy.

“As Southeast Asia’s largest country and the most populous Muslim-majority country worldwide, changes in Indonesia could build momentum for abolition across the region,” said Dave McRae, a Lowy Institute research fellow.

Three countries, the Philippines, Cambodia and East Timor, have already abolished the death penalty.

Indonesia currently issues the death penalty to criminals convicted of terrorism, murder and drug-related crimes. But now, as two death row inmates challenge their sentences, capital punishment is again under review by the Constitutional Court, McRae said. The two inmates were sentenced to death after killing someone during a robbery. Their lawyers have argued that the offense is not a serious enough crime to warrant capital punishment.

While capital sentences have not reduced since the Reformasi period, Indonesia executes fewer people than other countries with the death penalty, including China, Iran or the United States. The country could repeal the death penalty without much impact on the criminal justice system, McRae said.

“Indonesia is at a crossroads regarding the death penalty,” he said. “With fewer than two executions per year on average for the past thirty years, its usage is a level where comparative scholars argue Indonesia could abolish the death penalty at virtually no cost.”

Concern for migrant workers facing the death penalty abroad could be a strong motivator to abolish the practice, McRae said. If Indonesia was to repeal the death penalty, the nation would be is a stronger position when advocating for citizens sentenced to death abroad.

“It (would) provide a pragmatic reason to abolish the death penalty’” McRae said. “With increasing mobility, and China and India also facing increasing pressure from their own populations to protect their citizens abroad, this is an issue that could increase support for abolition across the region.”

The Jakarta Globe

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