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| Picture courtesy of BBC.com |
Before going to bed last night, I was scrolling through my ‘timeline’ on Twitter hoping that the ‘Nusa Kambangan Nine’ would be allowed another chance at life.
But it was not to be.
As I turned off the lights in my room, eight of the nine had their lights of their lives turned off completely after being shot dead by a firing squad under instructions from the Indonesian government.
Many journalists on duty at the ‘Alcatraz of Indonesia’ were tearing together with family members gathered before gunshots reined in the stillness of the night.
Today, The Guardian is reporting that Indonesia’s Attorney-General said “Mary Jane Veloso’s death sentence is postponed, not canceled”.
Her ordeal is far from over. Mary Jane Veloso has denied ever knowing she was in possession of banned substances passed to her by her friend while in Petaling Jaya in 2010. Her account of what transpired is available here.
While we should condemn very strongly the preposterousness of the Jokowi-led government in Indonesia, one should also be aware of the ongoings in Malaysia, another proponent of the Death Penalty.
In ASEAN, only the Philippines has done away with this most human-rights-violating punishment. The other nations still hold a firm belief that state-sanctioned killing will provide a better environment for its people.
Malaysia too, does not allow its courts any leeway in handing out a sentence if it involves any of eight offenses, one of which is drug trafficking. The courts are obliged to hand out the harshest punishment in Malaysian law, death by hanging.
Amnesty International reports that there are at least 902 people on Death Row waiting to be brought to the gallows in Malaysia. Shockingly, people are kept in the dark about this. A friend of mine also mentioned that executions in Malaysia take place very discreetly.
And this must be stopped at once.
In most cases, the willingness or intent of an accused is not taken into account, especially when it comes to drug-related matters.
Factual-based research has displayed that harsher punishment will not reduce crime. Instead, better employment opportunities, a more vibrant economy and high quality education disincentivise people from getting involved in crime. Killing by states will not do anything.
In any criminal justice system, including Malaysia’s, governments must take into account that it is a system which should have justice at its core, not extreme punishment.
Anger and revenge, as displayed by the Indonesian premier and others who support the Death Penalty, is a foolhardy approach which should send alarm bells ringing throughout the ASEAN region. Because the issue of drug trafficking is a regional issue which needs a more nuanced strategy to tackle it.
But Malaysia can be a beacon of hope in the region when it comes to this pertinent debate. For that to take place though, we have to be consistent in opposing Capital Punishment instead of picking and choosing when one should be sent to the guillotine.
This is prime time for Najib Razak to step forward in light of what has taken place, to put a stop to the Death Penalty in Malaysia and send a harsh message to our Indonesian counterpart so that what happened this morning, may never take place again.
Malaysians have to be stand united alongside our ASEAN friends in this.
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