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Bali nine executions: Phone-tapping rumours surround delay
Sydney Morning Herald - March 16, 2015
The delay to the executions is being linked to everything from phone-tapping rumours to Prime Minister Tony Abbott's lack of popularity in Australia.
The Indonesian government initially said the prisoners would be killed in February. However, it now says their executions are on hold pending the outcomes of several legal challenges by those on death row.
Elnino Husein Mohi, a parliamentarian from the same party as defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, said the government would lose the trust of the people if the executions continued to be delayed.
He said it was legitimate for people to ask the president and vice-president whether the executions would be delayed until Mr Abbott's domestic popularity improved.
"Hopefully, the delay is truly due to technical reasons," Mr Mohi was quoted saying in news website Tribunnews.com. However, he pointed out there had been no delays to the execution of six drug felons in January, five of whom were foreigners.
There were also rumours swirling that the delays relate to Mr Joko's phone being tapped.
Indonesia is still smarting over the 2013 revelations that Australia attempted to monitor the mobile phone calls of former Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and senior officials.
And, earlier in March, it was revealed Australian and New Zealand spies targeted Indonesia's largest mobile phone network, Telkomsel.
On March 9, Deputy House Speaker Fadli Zon said friendly countries did not wire-tap. "Who does it has an interest and regards us as an enemy," Mr Fadli was quoted saying in news website Viva.co.id.
He said at the time he did not know whether the phone tapping related to the 2014 presidential election. "We don't know yet what the content is and who was tapped. We are just guessing; we cannot make any comment yet."
Mr Mohi said on Sunday that if the executions continued to be put on hold or even cancelled, it was reasonable for people to be suspicious that Mr Joko was concerned his phone had been tapped. "If the tapped conversation contained nothing, Mr Joko should have just ignored it," he said.
Parliamentarian TB Hasanuddin, who is in the same party as Mr Joko, said he was puzzled about why the Government was yet to execute those on death row.
"I don't know what else they are waiting for or why it keeps on being delayed," he was quoted saying by news website Okezone. "The longer the delay, the more disturbed the felons' psychological state will be."
A senior editor and commentator at the Jakarta Post, Endy Bayuni, said the delay to the executions had resulted in "all sorts of speculation". This included that Mr Joko was under pressure from members of his cabinet, that he was reconsidering the executions and that he was being "blackmailed" because his phone had been tapped.
"I doubt that one is true," Mr Bayuni said. He said it was based on the assumption that Australia had phone-tapped Indonesian officials in the past and still had the technology to do so.
Mr Bayuni said Mr Joko had made it clear he wanted to proceed with the executions. "However, they want to make sure they are on the right side of the law because it is a matter of life and death," he said.
Meanwhile, Chan and Sukumaran, who are incarcerated in Besi prison on Nusakambangan, were on Monday visited by their mothers, Helen and Raji, Sukumaran's sister Brintha, Chan's fiancee Febyanti, Australian Consul-General to Bali, Majell Hind, and Melbourne lawyer Julian McMahon.
The men's brothers, Michael and Chinthu, have returned to Australia. It is understood the other family members will fly from Cilacap to Bali after visiting Chan and Sukumaran again on Wednesday.
[With Karuni Rompies.]
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