NU reiterates support for drug convict executions

Jakarta, NU Online
Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, reiterated on Thursday its support for President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to press ahead with the government’s plan to execute a number of death row inmates convicted on drug trafficking charges, some of which are foreigners.<>

The remarks were made after NU leaders came to the Bogor Palace in West Java on Thursday to discuss several matters, particularly their upcoming national meeting, which Jokowi was invited to attend.

NU general chairman KH Said Aqil Siradj said matters related to the execution and the death penalty for drug offenses were already on the table.

"The NU has always supported him [Jokowi]. The NU is also behind the President all the way for his rejection of the clemency requests filed by those death-penalty drug convicts," he was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying.

When asked about the pressure and efforts being made by foreign countries to save the lives of their nationals facing the firing squad, Aqil said Indonesia should stick to its stance. Such pressure would not affect the execution plan, he added.

Aqil pointed out domestic politics in Australia and Brazil could be driving Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to make the appeals to save their citizens in order to raise their popularity ratings at home.

"No problem, go ahead, it’s only pressure," Aqil said. "He [Jokowi] said in Australia and Brazil, the political ratings of their state leaders are currently down," he said. "The stern reactions were made so that their popularity ratings would go up."

Aqil later argued that such executions had nothing to do with human rights, since drug abuse caused great losses to the Indonesian people, especially the young generation.

"Instead of raising concerns about the humanity value of a person, or 64 persons [all the death-row convicts whose clemency requests have been rejected by Jokowi], we should defend the humanity of 250 million people [Indonesians]," he said.

Australian media outlets have reported a phone call to Jokowi on Wednesday night to appeal for clemency for its two nationals on the execution list, drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

Editing by Sudarto Murtaufiq