- Indonesia’s Leading English News Website, Direct Daily from the Island of Bali.
Indonesia Should Keep Calm against Withdrawal of Australia’s Ambassador
Indonesia Should Keep Calm against Withdrawal of Australia’s Ambassador
JAKARTA ~
Deputy Chairman of House Commission I Ahmad Hanafi Rais stated that the Indonesian Government should calmly accept the Australian Government’s decision to recall its ambassador from Jakarta.
“While responding to Australia’s stance on the death penalty, the Indonesian Government should keep calm and be confident about its decision to carry out the executions (of two Australian drug convicts). The government should not react excessively,” Hanafi said on Thursday.
According to Hanafi, the Indonesian Government should avoid taking any action in retaliation for the withdrawal of Australia’s ambassador to Indonesia.
“Stay calm and confident because the execution was a legal decision. The execution of convicts is Indonesia’s sovereignty that must be respected by its own citizens as well as foreign nationals,” he remarked.
He noted that the decision to recall the Australian ambassador to Indonesia is in accordance with the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.
“As a form of protest, it is reasonable. We had also protested in a similar fashion when Brazil postponed Indonesian Ambassador Toto Riyanto’s credential presentation,” he emphasized.
Earlier, on Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop issued a joint press statement expressing deep regret over the execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
“The government had hoped that Indonesia would show mercy to these young men who had worked hard since their arrests to rehabilitate themselves and improve the lives of other prisoners,” they said in the statement published on the website of the Australian embassy in Jakarta Wednesday.
The statement noted that they committed a serious crime, but lengthy prison terms would have been an appropriate punishment, they added.
In jail, Andrew Chan brought comfort and hope to others, and Myuran Sukumaran shared his skills to give prisoners the chance of a better life, the statement said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumarans family and friends at this extremely difficult time,” Abbott and Bishop stated.
Australia respects Indonesia’s sovereignty, but deeply regrets that Indonesia could not extend the mercy it so often seeks for its own citizens, they remarked.
Meanwhile, former Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr observed that the decision to recall the Australian ambassador to Indonesia following the execution of Bali Nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran is a bad move.
Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday afternoon, Carr noted that Australia relied on Indonesia’s cooperation in the areas of immigration, cattle trade, counterterrorism operations, and Australian investment.
With the absence of an ambassador in Indonesia, Australians could potentially be at greater risk in the country, he pointed out while raising the awkward question of when the ambassador will be sent back.
“Cooperation with Indonesia is hugely in Australias interest. To pluck our ambassador out of Jakarta means we simply havent got the clout and our whole agenda could slip away,” he noted.
“Unless we have cooperation in counterterrorism operations running at its optimal level, the lives of Australians in Bali are at greater risk,” Carr stressed.
4 Comments
No disrepect to your souverinity but it was a barbaric act deplored around the World #Istandformercy!!!
Bob Carr is as irrelevant today as he was when he was a total failure as the foreign minister,his opinion is not representative of the feelings Australia,so publish relevant material from people who actually make decisions
I can’t quite agree with former Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr. Cooperation between our two countries regarding counterterrorism organisations?
As far as is known, the Bali bombers have been released from jail after very short sentences, having perpetrated horrendous atrocities and killing many Australians.
And now two more Australians have been killed, tied to a post and shot through the heart, because your sovereign legal system dictated it. Two heroic Australians, who had transformed and redeemed themselves as well as many of their co-prisoners, were killed, yet none of their reforms or rehabilitations were taken into account by the leader of your nation.
That seems totally inexplicable to us, Australians. That crimes were committed is a fact. However, to not consider the changed characters of the two prisoners, who had already been incarcerated for almost ten years jail and to still hear your leader state “executions are positive for Indonesia”, seems utterly heartless.
Did Jokowi know that the part of the prison that was transformed into an art studio used to be a crystal meth lab where drugs were actually produced? What will he do about the availability of drugs inside prisons?
Did he listen to his advisors when they told him of his judges’ corruption? The ones involved with this case requested $130 000,- in bribes from the Australian lawyers representing Sukumaran and Chan, in exchange for reduced sentences!
Did your president not say he was going to eradicate Indonesia’s corruption? Did he not run the elections on this ticket? Why did he not keep his word? He could have really put his foot down hard. He didn’t.
He apparently did not pick up the phone to respond to our PM’s and Foreign Minister’s calls during the week before the executions either. Why not? What was he afraid of?
In the eyes of the majority of Australians your leader has lost face. He has come across as spineless and weak. A man of strength and character can extend mercy, clemency and have compassion.
The call-back of the Australian ambassador is but a mild and lukewarm diplomatic response to give expression to our people’s disgust and dismay at the barbaric decision to go ahead with the executions, the rude and disrespectful treatment of the families of the prisoners, the disallowance of last requests by Chan and Sukumaran.
We love the Indonesian people, we acknowledge their warmth and hospitality, we admire their intelligence and positive energy; but right now we are upset, shocked, deeply hurt and feel let down by your leadership.
I can only hope that there won’t be any backlashes or negative consequences. I think you can understand that our country is presently in mourning, having just buried two honourable and reformed citizens, who contributed so much to improve prison life. They did it in such a selfless way, with much dedication and helped and cared for others until the bitter end.
May we all learn from their altruistic and humane example.
The reprieve for Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso was heartening…had the Indonesians gone ahead, it would seem they would have killed an innocent women.
This is yet another example of how unjust and unreliable capital punishment is.
As for the killing of the eight…there is no legitimate explanation. This was a display of uncommon cruelty.