Gunning down a nation’s reputation
There’s a popular anecdote in Indonesia about
President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo. It was
told to journalists by the man himself - perhaps it’s apocryphal.
Shortly after taking office in 2014 he was in
Beijing for an APEC summit; at the official dinner he apparently insisted on
sitting alongside leaders Obama, Putin and Xi because Indonesia is a negara
besar (great power or major nation).
Measured by population the claim is correct –
Indonesia ranks fourth in the world. Geographically it’s the largest
archipelago. These attributes have been
inherited, not earned.
Jokowi is also right if greatness is gauged by
potential. His nation has huge deposits
of natural resources, vast areas of fertile land and enterprising people. It’s been a democracy since the start of
this century - the world’s largest Muslim country with a name for practising
moderation – a fine accolade.
But in political management terms the situation
is less than great. Indonesia’s nominal GNP ranks 16th, even behind
Australia with one tenth of the population.
For ease of doing business the Republic stands at 109 on the World Bank
index. Just 30 minutes ferry ride
distant is Singapore at number one.
In sports Indonesia is a non-starter having never
won international titles beyond badminton. This year tiny New Zealand scored
the Laureus Award – the Oscar of sporting achievement – after the All Blacks
became global rugby champions. NZ has
fewer people than Surabaya.
Jokowi says his homeland is a maritime
nation. It has just two submarines
built in 1981 and no aircraft carriers.
Its military strength is less than Taiwan’s, and the US$6.9 billion
defence budget one tenth of Russia’s.
Indonesia has more than 2,000 universities and
tertiary institutions but none in the world’s top 500. Its scientists, creative
artists and philosophers have rare talent long crushed by an authoritarian
culture dominated by oligarchs and the military. No surprise that the nation
has yet to claim a Nobel Prize.
However measured in terms of judicial graft,
discrimination and brutality Indonesia is a negara besar. On Transparency International’s corruption
perception scale it’s 88. For application of the rule of law it’s number 52 out
of 102.
Justice can be bought. The Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi
(KPK Corruption Eradication Commission) has successfully convicted many
law officers including judges in courts established to counter corruption.
Former Chief Justice Akil Mochtar is behind bars.
These successes have scratched, not wounded the
system. It’s widely believed that those
suffering the most severe sentences have empty wallets.
Fourteen real or perceived drug traffickers were
executed in Indonesia at the Nusa Kambangan jail last year – most on 29
April. They included men from the Philippines,
France, Ghana, Nigeria, Brazil, Indonesia and two Australians who had reformed
during their decade in detention.
The Indonesian legal world is
no repository of confidence. According to the Institute for Criminal
Justice Reform (ICJR) Zainal Abidin, the sole Indonesian in the last batch to
face the M16s, could not appeal because his file had disappeared.
The South American Rodrigo
Gularte suffered from serious mental disorders and didn’t understand he was to
die, according to his priest Father Charlie Burrows.
Filipino Mary Jane Veloso’s
execution was stopped in the final hours when another trafficker suddenly
confessed to police.
The men’s deaths led to widespread international
condemnation. Australia, Brazil and the Netherlands withdrew their ambassadors,
inflicting significant damage to Indonesia’s
international image.
Not all anger is expressed beyond Indonesia’s
borders. Komnas HAM (the National
Commission on Human Rights) is an advocate for reform, as are many NGOs.
Most countries have abandoned the death
penalty. Eventually economic sanctions
will be applied against nations that execute, and their overseas
representatives will be treated as pariahs.
In Europe this month President Jokowi told
German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the death penalty was necessary because
between 40 and 50 citizens died every day from drug abuse.
These are the same figures he used to justify
last year’s executions, which suggests capital punishment has had no impact.
The statistics come from a 2008 study organised
by Universitas Indonesia and Badan Narkotika Nasional (BNN – the
National Narcotics Agency). Australian
and other academic researchers have labelled the findings ‘ambiguous’,
inaccurate’ and ‘oversimplistic’.
Nonetheless they appeal to those who see
solutions to complex problems in stark terms. The logic is false: If fear of death changes behaviour then
millions would stub out when they read cancer statistics.
Sixteen times more Indonesians perish in pain
every year from the cruel disease than Jokowi’s estimate of drug deaths; packs
warn Merokok Membunuhmu (Smoking Kills You) before an image of a skull,
but the rates still rise.
Then there’s the hypocrisy. Indonesia regularly pleads for the lives of
its workers in Saudi Arabia; abused maids who lash back and kill their vile
employers are frequently sentenced to beheading. Indonesians get outraged and
diplomats protest, but the Saudis seldom listen.
Ironically Jokowi’s intransigence came when the
UN opened its first major conference on prohibition policies, examining why the
so-called ‘war on drugs’ has failed to stop manufacture, supply and use.
Countries, like Portugal, the Netherlands,
Germany, Canada and some US States have either decriminalised the use of
marihuana or reduced penalties. Others
are taking a health approach rather than a punitive position.
However the Indonesian government is not in this
group. Jokowi continues to repeat his
determination to pursue a tough line, instructing law authorities and the army
to crush drug use.
More offenders are scheduled to go before
Indonesia’s firing squads this year. If
the promises are carried out Indonesia will have abandoned its right to claim
greatness, unless it wants to sit alongside China, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
According to Amnesty International estimates, these were the major executors in
2015.
Although there are no Australians on the current
death list the Sydney Morning Herald recently editorialised on
‘barbarism in the cause of political expediency’ urging Australia to campaign
for a global ban ‘for the common good of humanity’, whatever the victims’
nationality:
To many in the West, the need to punish for
punishment's sake remains an Old Testament throwback to an-eye-for-an-eye. It
has no place in any modern, civilised, democratic nation.
Indonesia's culpability in reviving executions
for convicted drug criminals and denying the Australian pair clemency was no
better or worse than the policies of China for killing political prisoners or
indeed so many states in the US for killing murderers. It is simply wrong.
Australia’s fury at last year’s shootings was
blunted by earlier comments from former Prime Minister John Howard. Although he
claimed to be against capital punishment he supported the execution of the
three Bali bombers who killed 202, including 88 Australians, in 2002.
In Norway mass killer Anders Breivik has no fear
of state-sanctioned death, despite having bombed and shot 77 mainly young
people. This year the right-wing
extremist won some court victories against the state, which had allegedly
failed to respect his civil rights on issues like contact with other prisoners.
The legal decision startled and distressed many.
However it reinforced Norway’s position as a nation that holds high the rule of
law and refuses to lower its principles by treating its most loathed and
unreformed inmate in any illegal way.
It’s not just the condemned who die in countries
that keep the death penalty. It degrades and often destroys all involved in the
grisly procedures. None feel greatness. Every volley of the execution squads
cuts down a nation’s reputation as a fair and just society which respects human
rights, a good place to invest and holiday with the kids.
The first steps for Indonesia are to address the
deficiencies listed earlier, restore the rule of law and make the legal system
clean. That includes a moratorium as a prelude to abolishing capital
punishment.
Then Jokowi won’t need to demand a place on the
top table; it will be offered with respect and by right.
(First published in Strategic Review 27 April 2016 - http://www.sr-indonesia.com/web-exclusives/view/gunning-down-a-nation-s-reputation
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