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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-02-25 Daily Xml
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Indonesian Justice System

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:27): I rise with a heavy heart to speak about two young Australian men, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, who are both currently sentenced to execution by firing squad in Indonesia. Should their appeal against a failed bid to challenge their execution not be successful within two weeks they will both be taken to a field on an island, asked to choose whether they wish to sit or stand, asked whether they want their eyes covered, clothed in a white shirt on which a mark above their heart will be placed and they will be shot dead by a firing squad of 12 people standing five to 10 metres away.

I do not believe that killing people is ever justified. I do not believe that we should permanently lose hope about any human being. I do not believe that if you make your bed you should forever lie in it. I believe the death penalty is a violation of the right to life, an inhumane punishment and a mark of a society that has lost hope. Along with millions of others around the globe, I believe that these two young men, along with the eleven other people who currently face impending execution, deserve mercy.

Myuran is 34 and Andrew is 31. When they committed their terrible drug offences they were in their early 20s. In 2005, they were both convicted of drug trafficking as the alleged co-ringleaders of a heroin smuggling operation from Indonesia to Australia. Heroin is a terrible drug that destroys the lives of those who become desperately addicted and has a devastating and heartbreaking impact on their families, friends and communities. These two young men committed a terrible crime. They engaged in conduct which contributed to damaging other people's lives. They made an awful mistake for which they must be punished, for which they had to be removed from our community to prison, for which they had to show remorse and from which they had to be rehabilitated and reformed so that their lives were focused in a different direction so that they never engaged in this conduct again.

Many of us in this place have children, nephews, nieces, friends, cousins who are of a similar age as Myuran and Andrew when they committed their crime. I have no doubt that we have all witnessed the mistakes the young people in our lives have made and have supported them to turn that mistake into an opportunity to move forward in a new and positive direction, as we should. The death penalty provides no such opportunity. From every account, these two young men are deeply remorseful about the grave mistake they made. They have repeatedly demonstrated the role they can play in our global war on drugs. Whilst in gaol over the past 10 years, they have done much good, and their story of rehabilitation is known in Indonesia and across the globe.

They have been spoken about as a credit to the Indonesian penal system which has facilitated their rehabilitation. They have repeatedly helped other prisoners to rehabilitate, and they are role models for many of them. They demonstrate why we can maintain hope that young people can change and move their lives in a positive direction. Should their lives be spared, they can demonstrate to other young offenders that genuine remorse and rehabilitation is the only pathway.

The Indonesian President's policy position is to refuse clemency for every drug offender without reviewing each individual case. His policy is bereft of hope and in contravention of rights set out in Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Indonesia is a party.

Amnesty International, amongst many others, have written to President Widodo, stating that the executions will contravene human rights law and standards, and advising that, whilst the resumption of executions in Indonesia is being presented as a response to crime, there is no compelling evidence that the death penalty prevents crime more effectively than other punishments. There is indeed no conclusive evidence that the death penalty deters potential offenders; however, it is certain that, if Myuran and Andrew are executed, other drug offenders may be deterred from rehabilitation.

My heart goes out to Myuran and Andrew and every member of their extensive family who, for 10 years, have sustained hope that their young people will not be killed. I urge every one of us in this place and every South Australian to do whatever we can to ensure the lives of two of our young people are spared and, in doing so, to speak up for and commit ourselves to a community that is humane, compassionate and always hopeful.

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