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Cabinet members urge Indonesia's President Joko Widodo to show mercy to Bali nine duo
Sydney Morning Herald - March 14, 2015
But Mr Joko has failed to be swayed, although an apparent delay of several weeks – and possibly months – in the executions will be used to redouble efforts to save the lives of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
"There has been a direct approach to him [from a senior cabinet member] saying Chan and Sukumaran should not be executed but Jokowi rejected it," one source said.
Fairfax Media has been asked not to name the interlocutor because it may jeopardise efforts to save the lives of the Australians and others on death row.
Among those advocating a change of course are figures personally opposed to the death penalty, but also influential government members who publicly support capital punishment, insiders say.
Jakarta governor Basuki Purnama – a close ally of Mr Joko – has already gone public with his objections to the killings, as has Prananda Surya Paloh, whose father is media mogul Surya Paloh, another key backer of the president.
But concerns are far more widespread among the elite, and the high ranks of government.
While the message about the rehabilitation of Sukumaran and Chan has resonated, the bigger concern is the damage being done to Indonesia's international reputation as the execution saga unfolds.
"Cracks are showing," said another source. "They know that after these executions, there are many more to come."
Mr Joko announced in December he would reject all 64 applications for clemency for drug offenders facing the death penalty. Six of those have already been killed, including five foreigners. The next lot of 10 includes nine foreigners.
Further down the track, among those to be executed are two Britons, another Dutch man and six Malaysians. The killing of the Malaysians is highly problematic for the Indonesian government. There are more than 200 Indonesians facing the death penalty in Malaysia, according to the Indonesian NGO Migrant Care.
Mr Joko has steadfastly maintained he wants to go ahead with the executions, which are popular in Indonesia, and publicly insisted he is unfazed by the international pressure.
As well as Australia's strong diplomacy, the governments of Brazil, Holland, France, the Philippines and Nigeria have all lodged protests or withdrawn their ambassadors.
However, sources maintain Joko – a former mayor with no experience with foreign affairs – has been shocked by the strength of the condemnation. "Jokowi just wants it to cool down," said another insider.
Cabinet secretary Andi Widjajanto, a key confidante of the Indonesian president, took the unusual step on Thursday of rebuking co-ordinating minister for security Tedjo Edhy Purdjiatno for his remarks that Indonesia would unleash a wave of 10,000 asylum seekers on to Australia if it continued to agitate against the executions.
Mr Andi said the policy would not be introduced and that Indonesia was keen to cooperate with other countries on combating drug crime.
The government has decided to postpone the killings until legal appeals are heard and won't proceed with the deaths by firing squad of any of the 10 felons slated for execution until they are all completed.
But the office of attorney general sowed more confusion when spokesman Tony Spontana insisted on Thursday that the Supreme Court had written to say it would reject all three judicial reviews from death row inmates before they had even been considered.
An official at the Supreme Court said it wasn't true. All cases would be decided individually, he said.
He said that one of the judicial reviews – from Indonesian Zainal Abidin – was not being processed on administrative grounds as the documents presented to the court were photocopies and there was no formal record the review had been filed.
Zainal's lawyer Ade Yuliawan said the comments from Mr Spontana were "astonishing", adding that his remarks had come completely out of the blue and deeply distressed the family.
Chan and Sukumaran have a final appeal to be heard on Thursday. Indonesia's judicial commission is also investigating claims that the judges in their case asked for bribes in exchange for a lighter sentence.
Indonesian human rights groups are preparing a Constitutional Court challenge related to death penalty cases that could also affect the duo.
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