Proposed Bill On Criminal Adjustments: Narcotics Prisoners Are Not Worth Sentenced To Death

JAKARTA - Commission III of the DPR RI held a meeting with a number of community institutions to discuss the Draft Law or the Criminal Adjustment Bill. In this meeting, the Narcotics Policy Reform Network (JRKN) proposed that narcotics crimes not be sentenced to death.

"Natical policies are not feasible or should not be subject to the death penalty. If we refer to the norms of international legal instruments which we also view as national legal norms, because we have ratified them," said a representative from JRKN, Ma'ruf Bajamal, at the parliament complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday, December 2.

Ma'ruf assessed that the provision of the death penalty was a burden for the correctional system in Indonesia. He also gave an example of many death row convicts for narcotics cases who were executed but not much evidence.

"The death penalty for narcotics cases acting as couriers is often a victim of the crime of trafficking in persons or TIP, and the criteria for imposing the death penalty for people who provide narcotics that result in death or disability have no clear limits and have the potential to criminalize the use of narcotics," he explained.

Ma'ruf said that the majority of the death row inmates in Indonesia were perpetrators of drug cases. He gave an example, in the 2015'2016 period there were 18 executions, all of which were related to narcotics.

"About 63 percent of the death row inmates in Indonesia are convicts of narcotics cases," said Ma'ruf.

In addition, Ma'ruf highlighted 156 Indonesian citizens who were threatened with the death penalty abroad, 111 of whom were related to narcotics cases. Although, said Ma'ruf, the government is quite intense in advocated for Indonesian citizens who are threatened with the death penalty abroad.

Therefore, Ma'ruf encourages the government to also actively advocate for Indonesian citizens abroad and in line with domestic legal policies.

"It should also run linearly in the country, not only government advocacy at international levels when citizens face cases," he said.

Ma'ruf also reminded that Indonesia has ratified the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In the legal instrument, he emphasized that the right to life is a right that cannot be reduced, and the death penalty can only be imposed for the most serious crime.

Therefore, Ma'ruf said that the death penalty in narcotics cases was not in line with the spirit of criminal reform in the new Criminal Code. Because drug cases are not the most serious crime.

"Regarding the death penalty in this narcotics case, for us, it is not in line with the spirit of criminal reform in the new Criminal Code," he concluded.