Joko Widodo stands firm as Bali officials prepare to move Chan and Sukumaran
|
Version 0 of 1. Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo has repeated his conviction that executing drug offenders is important for the country’s national sovereignty, as Bali authorities prepare to move Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to their execution place this week. A meeting is in progress on Bali, where chief prosecutor Momock Bambang Samiarso says authorities are discussing plans to move the Bali Nine pair out of Kerobokan jail within days. “It’s confirmed, this week,” he told reporters. “[The island] is all ready.” The timeframe for moving the men has shifted several times, however, as Indonesia prepares to execute 10 drug offenders – the most it has ever executed at one time. The president has been getting support for the policy from an audience of high school students. The students from a central Java school linked to the military visited the presidential palace in Jakarta on Monday, where he warned them of the dangers of drugs. “Be careful, right now there are 50 people from our generation who die each day because of drugs,” he said, as quoted by news website detik.com. “That’s why we have to be strict. Do you all agree that drug dealers must be executed?” The students replied in unison: “Agree!” Widodo told reporters: “Don’t let anyone try to intervene in our sovereign law. About the executions of drug offenders, this is our sovereign law.” Related: Bali Nine member Martin Stephens says Indonesia's death penalty destroys hope The president has been contacted by leaders of various countries, including Australia, France, the Netherlands and Brazil, over the hardline drugs policy. But Widodo said no number of representations from foreign governments on behalf of their death row citizens would stop him carrying out the executions. His friend and political ally, Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known better as Ahok, has revealed he has encouraged the president to abolish the death penalty, and he believes he is considering alternative views on the matter. The special mobile brigade police on Friday rehearsed the transport of the men, under heavy security, to Bali’s airport, where the military could then fly them to Nusakambangan, an island off central Java. |