But if only Australia's outrage at the
death penalty (that is, execution after due process) was principled and
consistent, that is, it extended to our friends and allied nations like the
United States, which executed 35 people last year alone.
Australia is
up in arms over Indonesia's execution of the Bali Nine pair Andrew Chan and
Myuran Sukumaran.
And rightly
so: the death penalty is abhorrent and must be abolished. Australia agreed to
this long ago: we abolished it in 1973. My thoughts and sympathy are with the
families of the two Australians executed on Wednesday. I cannot imagine how I
would feel if it had been one of my brothers.
Australia is
right to raise an objection – and right to exercise diplomatic
protection over Australians in trouble abroad. Both Prime Minister Tony Abbott
and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, typically, unanimously, expressed their
outrage. We even withdrew our ambassador to Indonesia in protest.
But if only
Australia's outrage at the death penalty (that is, execution after due process)
was principled and consistent, that is, it extended to our friends and allied
nations like the United States, which executed 35 people last year alone.
And if only
Australia's outrage at the death penalty was directed at Indonesia's execution
of West Papuans without due process. Hundreds of thousands of West Papuans
have been murdered by Indonesia's security services. Without the benefit of
legal defence or their day in court, West Papuans are killed on mere suspicion
or, worse, for simply expressing a political opinion. Headlines about the
execution of the Bali nine pair screamed that Jokowi has blood on his
hands – but we only care if it's Australian blood. No one seems to
care when it's our Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel friends and Anzac allies just 300
kilometres north of our shores.
If we, as
Australians, are opposed to the death penalty, shouldn't we also be outraged
about the fact that Australia is accused of providing financial, operational
and forensic assistance to Indonesian "death squads" in West Papua?
As the ABC has reported, an elite
counter-terrorism unit called Detachment 88, funded and equipped by Australia,
has been involved in tortures and killings in West Papua as part of operations
by the Indonesian authorities to stamp out the West Papuan independence
movement and assassinate its leaders.
The simple
fact is: we are against the death penalty in Indonesia when it's applied to our
citizens with due process. We will even recall our ambassador in protest to
make sure voters at home know this and see that objection. But we aren't
against Indonesians killing West Papuans without any due process. In fact, we
will help Indonesia to kill them by providing training and support to their
"death squads" - and our ambassador will be celebrated in Jakarta for
it. At least, when he is allowed to go back.
If we, as
Australians, are so outraged about the death penalty, shouldn't we be
conducting an inquiry about the role of our own police in tipping off Indonesian authorities
about the Bali nine, when they were fully aware of the consequences under
Indonesian law, as one AFP police chiefs admitted in a 2006 interview?
And if we,
as Australians, were really against the death penalty and actually cared about
governments putting people to death – in Indonesia or elsewhere – we
would oppose it, whether it was with due process or (worse) without it. And we
certainly wouldn't let our police or our overseas aid budget support it.
Jennifer Robinson is an Australian human rights
lawyer.
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