Indonesia has announced that death row inmates and ringleaders of the Bali Nine drug smuggling ring, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, will be transferred from Kerokoban prison. It’s the first step in their last walk to the firing squad.
The two — who were convicted of a failed attempt to smuggle heroin to Australia in 2005 — are now more than likely to be taken out to a field on Nusakambangan, a prison island off central Java, and shot dead.
Besides the horror of the death penalty — something Australia only dispensed of in 1967 — there is so much unnecessary tragedy in this case.
Some of it rests on the shoulders of the Australian Federal Police (AFP), who tipped off the Indonesian police after receiving information from a worried father of one of the duo’s mules.
Some rests on the own shoulders of the men, who made one terrible, foolish mistake while young.
However, a lot of it also rests with Indonesia and its President Joko Widodo, whose cruel lack of compromise and desire to clear out the prisons has seen him categorically turn down any chance of clemency — even though this potentially flouts Indonesian law.
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Beyond how unpalatable the notion may be to many, this is yet another reason why it is a real shame the two will be executed — here are clear examples of successful rehabilitation that should be held high with pride by the Indonesian government, not shot down in history.
Instead, their execution could potentially dampen other inmates’ enthusiasm to reform or change in Indonesia. In all prisons, hope is critical for moral and rehabilitation, especially in under-resourced prisons where conditions are harsh.
In this case, as with many more, the death penalty is no silver bullet solution, and in fact hits terribly wide of the mark. There is no conclusive evidence that the death penalty has any real deterrence value.
These two men, who fully admit they made an awful error judgement in while their early 20s, offer a glimpse on how Widodo’s war on drugs can be won without having to lose more lives — without having to fire a single shot.
READ: Widodo: 100 days in office
