Setara Institutes Views Death Penalty Decision as a Camouflage

Liputan6.com, Jakarta An organization called Setara Institute is one among many parties who disapprove the decision President Joko 'Jokowi' made towards the death row inmates. The leader of the organization, Hendradi thinks the capital punishment is injustice, an impingement on others rights to live, and is politically motivated. Hendradi assumes the death penalty is one way to assure that other political problems are no longer prioritized. In other words, the death penalty for the organization is a perfect distraction from what actually matters, in this case, the organization believes the issue between the Indonesian Police (Polri) and the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is much more important to the nation and ought to be the focus of the nation’s target.

"This is one way to cover the government's weaknesses in trying to uphold the law. This can be seen from its inability to address the KPK- Polri issue," Hendradi said at the Setara Institute office, Jakarta, Wednesday (04/03/2015).

"Jokowi compensated his inability to make a firm decision on KPK- Polri issue and pretended he could uphold the law and that he is strong by rejecting the clemency of the death row inmates and put them on the death penalty," he continued.

Hendradi also further shared how he thinks that Jokowi never actually studied or examined all the clemency requested by the death row inmates. Hendradi thinks it is imperative for the President to carefully study the requests of the inmates as there are surely possibilities for reconsiderations.

"I am sure that all the requests were not being read by the President. I know that one or two among many of the requests have the potentiality for reconsiderations. There are things that can be weighed from the letter made by the inmates," he added.

Setara Institutite said that it does not support criminal with drugs- related cases but it values the lives of people and there are many options apart from death penalty that the President can choose.

President Jokowi had explained that Indonesia will not tolerate drugs-offenders, especially the ones from foreign countries. This is not based on racial discrimination, as Jokowi was also keen on executing Indonesians who are seen to be dangerous. It is because in Indonesia, the widespread of rampant drugs is too inevitable to bear. That is why, the strategy has to be an arguably harsh one to make everyone understand the harm drugs can cause to the society. Imagine how many people have died from drugs? The amount is hundreds or thousand more than the number of the drug dealers who will be executed.

"Yes, for the death penalty, I have received many phone calls from the Brazillian President, President of France, and Netherlands as well. But sorry no, I am still firm on my decision to execute their people who have been named as drugs- offenders in Indonesia," Jokowi said at the Presidential Palace, Jakarta, February 24 2015.

Despite the growing discontentment from every part of the world, President Jokowi still thinks that the Indonesian law cannot be intervened by any means or by any reason.

"First of all, I would like to inform that, nobody should have the guts to intervene in the death execution process. It is our sovereignty, it is our law. If you have a problem with it, it is yours not ours. We abide the law, we comply with the rules applied, and the we are now fighting for a positive purpose, not for a negative one," Jokowi continued. (Akp/Riz)