INDONESIA LIKELY TO CARRY OUT THIRD WAVE OF EXECUTIONS THIS YEAR by Fardah

Jakarta, May 13, 2016 (Antara) - Drug trafficking has become Enemy Number One of Indonesia, as some 30 to 50 people, mostly young men, die of drug abuse daily in the country.

         The Indonesian government has declared an all-out war against drug crimes and has imposed the severest punishment of death sentence against drug offenders.

        Recently, Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo hinted that executions of drug traffickers would resume once his office is through with completing statistics of death-row inmates.   
  He emphasized that the third wave of executions will be carried out in the near future, but did not reveal the number of death row inmates on the list.

        "We have not compiled the final number," Prasetyo noted, adding that drug offenders will be the ones who will be executed.

        He declined to disclose the names of death row inmates who will be facing the firing squads, but he confirmed that inmate Freddy Budiman, a drug kingpin, will be among the convicts scheduled to die in this third wave of executions this year.

         "I will push for the execution of Budiman. Freddy Budiman is our target," Prasetyo affirmed on May 10.

           However, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) is waiting for Budiman to seek a review of his case in the Supreme Court. The AGO will set a deadline for the same.

         "Budiman said he will use his legal rights to seek a review of the case. The review should be confirmed soon, (we) cannot wait for a long time," Prasetyo remarked.

         Concerning Mary Jane, he stated that the Indonesian authorities were still awaiting the results of the legal process in the Philippines.        
     Jane was to be executed along with a number of other drug convicts  in April 2015, but she escaped immediate execution after a woman, who had allegedly recruited her to act as a drug courier, gave herself up to police in the Philippines.

        "Mary Jane is still waiting for the outcome of the legal process in the Philippines," he noted.

          The decision on carrying out executions comes as an assertion of Indonesia's legal sovereignty despite the pros and cons highlighted by other countries, the Attorney General pointed out.

          "The pros and cons are still there, but it is a question of our sovereignty in law," he reiterated.

         A Central Java police officer, however, revealed that 10 foreigners and five Indonesian nationals on death row would face execution soon.

         "According to the latest information from the Attorney General Office (AGO), 15 death row inmates are to be executed in the third wave," Head of Public Relations of the Central Java Police Commissioner Liliek Darmanto noted recently.

         Among the foreign convicts are four Chinese citizens, a Pakistani national, two Nigerians, two Senegalese and a citizen of Zimbabwe.

        The executions are planned to be carried out at Indonesia's highest security prison, Nusakambangan in Cilacap, Central Java.

         The police have said they are ready for carrying out the executions. Each death row inmate faces ten shooters.

        "The police have prepared a firing squad. Some 150 personnel from Central Java have been prepared to act as the executors," he revealed.

        Indonesia is one of the few countries to have imposed the harshest drug laws in the world.

          Indonesia had executed 14 drug convicts on January 18, 2015 and April 29, 2015.  Among them were Dutch citizens Ang Kim Soei (62), Malawian Namaona Denis (48), Brazilian national Marco Archer Cardoso Mareira (53), Nigerian Daniel Enemua (38), Indonesian citizen Andriani alias Melisa Aprilia (38), and Vietnamese national Tran Thi Bich Hanh (37).

        Two members of "Bali Nine" drug ring, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were also executed in April last year.

        According to media reports, at least 131 people are currently in jail after having been sentenced to death.

        Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said recently that the narcotic problem in the country is more serious than even terrorism.

        Pandjaitan said around 75 percent of narcotic drug distribution is controlled from prisons and, therefore, he would tighten prison regulations and push for implementation of death penalty.

         Those convicted and sentenced to death must be immediately executed, he argued.

         "If it is delayed, there is a possibility that they start running a drug distribution racket (from inside jails)," he stated.

         No party in Indonesia or outside can dictate to the country on the issue of execution of drug convicts,  Pandjaitan said.

         The National Anti-Narcotics Agency (BNN) has voiced its support to the government's decision to execute drug-related death row prisoners.

         Indonesia has been on the radar of international drug traffickers and syndicates, and their networks have spread across the country. They have targeted the younger generation, according to BNN Chief Budi Waseso.

         He claimed that international drug dealers intend to finish off the Indonesian people by luring them into drugs.

         He said he believed it was so because "although they are dealers, they do not themselves consume the drugs they sell."
   Waseso said he became convinced of this following the arrest of two Chinese citizens by BNN - LY (35) and LC (32) - while they were conducting a drug transaction involving 12,306 grams of crystal methamphetamine.

          "They were arrested in front of a hospital on Jalan Pluit Raya, RT21, RW 28, Number 2, Penjaringan, North Jakarta, on Saturday (23/4). The urine tests of the two revealed they had not consumed any drugs," he said.

         Their two Indonesian accomplices, TS (61) and A (32), meanwhile, tested positive, he added.

         President Joko Widodo has repeatedly said that the drug abuse spiraling out control has put Indonesia in a state of emergency.

        The country has 4.5 million drug addicts who need rehabilitation.

        Some 1.2 million drug addicts are in such dire conditions that even rehabilitation is no longer an option for them.  ***2***
(f001/INE)