The Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Ensures Indonesian Citizens Are Entangled In Legal Access To Consululance

Director of Protection for Indonesian Citizens and BHI of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Judha Nugraha. (ANTARA/Yashinta Difa)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemlu) ensures that Indonesian citizens (WNI) abroad will gain consular access when facing legal cases.

"We make sure that every citizen of our country has access to this," said the Director of Protection for Indonesian Citizens and Indonesian Legal Entities (PWNI-BHI) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Judha Nugraha in the FGD for the Elimination of the Mandatory Death Penalty Malaysia as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, September 21.

Judha responded to the Malaysian Government's decision on June 16, 2023 to enact two laws on the abolition of the obligation to apply the death penalty.

The country enforces Malaysian criminal law by removing mandatory properties on the death penalty by adding a minimum prison sentence of 30 years and a maximum of 40 years in prison.

The amendment made the Malaysian government grant temporary authority to the Federal Court to accept requests for reconsideration (PK) of inmates who have been sentenced to death and life imprisonment that have permanent legal force (inkracht).

Responding to the decision, Judha said that the Indonesian government had taken a number of steps to handle litigation and non-ligacy in protecting and assisting Indonesian citizens in danger of the death penalty abroad, including by providing consular access.

The government is also seeking the appointment of lawyers and translators for Indonesian citizens who are threatened with the death penalty abroad, in addition to other legal steps in accordance with local state law regulations.

Furthermore, the government carried out bilateral-level diplomatic efforts through lobbying and diplomatic notes and took an approach to the local government according to local culture.

Based on the recapitulation of data collection results by all representatives in Malaysia to prisons in their respective working areas, a total of 77 Indonesian citizens will apply for PK throughout Malaysia.

Of that number, 61 of them occurred throughout the Peninsula, eight cases in the working area of the Indonesian Consulate General in Kota Kinabalu, six cases in the working area of the Indonesian Consulate General in Kuching, and two cases in the working area of the Indonesian Embassy in Tawau.