The Australian prime minister, in an effort to win the release of two Australians on death row in Indonesia, is suffering a diplomatic fallout after reminding Jakarta about the substantial aid Canberra sent following the 2004 tsunami.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott seems to have calculated incorrectly that Indonesia might be willing to release Australian nationals Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, sentenced to death on charges of drug smuggling, since Australia had donated $1 billion to Indonesia in the aftermath of the 2004 disaster.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Abbott emphasized that
Australia would “feel grievously let down” if Indonesia
went ahead with the executions.
“Let’s not forget that a few years ago when Indonesia was
struck by the Indian Ocean tsunami Australia sent a billion
dollars’ worth of assistance, we sent a significant contingent of
our armed forces to help in Indonesia with humanitarian relief
and Australians lost their lives in that campaign to help
Indonesia.
“I would say to the Indonesian people and the Indonesian
government: we in Australia are always there to help you and we
hope that you might reciprocate in this way at this time.”
Abbott pleaded on behalf of the condemned men, who were part of
the so-called Bali Nine group of Australians arrested on April
17, 2005 in Bali, Indonesia, as they were attempting to smuggle
8.3kg (18lbs) of heroin from Indonesia to Australia, that they
did not deserve the death sentence.
“In fact, they have become, it seems, thoroughly reformed
characters in prison in Bali and they are now helping the
Indonesians fight against drug crime. So much better to use these
people for good than to kill them,” Abbott said.
Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir expressed
alarm that the Australian PM had connected the past extension of
tsunami assistance with “the issue now in Indonesia.”
FULL STATEMENT: #Indonesia responds to @TonyAbbottMHR invoking foreign aid over planned #Bali9 executions #auspolpic.twitter.com/SlZhAzAIYH
— Auskar Surbakti (@AuskarSurbakti) February 18, 2015
“I hope this does not reflect, the statements made, the true
colors of Australians,” Nasir said on Wednesday.
“Threats are not part of diplomatic language and from what I
know, no one responds well to threats.”
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi emphasized that the
death sentence was not “directed at a particular country,” but
rather a case of “law enforcement against an extraordinary
crime.”
Meanwhile, Indonesian authorities announced on Tuesday that they
were delaying the planned transfer of the pair to Nusa Kambangan,
known as Indonesia's Alcatraz prison. They also informed that the
executions were unlikely to be carried out this month.
Not sure what made @TonyAbbottMHR invoke Indonesian aid in requests for clemency, but what a disastrous idea on many levels #auspol
— Scott Limbrick (@ScottLimbrick) February 18, 2015
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop welcomed the
decision.
“Any delay in plans by the Indonesian authorities to execute
Mr. Chan and Mr. Sukumaran will be a relief to the men and their
families,” Bishop told the ABC on Wednesday.
“It gives us an opportunity to continue to engage on the best
way forward with the Indonesian authorities so we will continue
our representations at the highest level across the Indonesian
government.”
Asked how the government would respond if Jakarta went ahead with
the planned executions, Abbott said it would not be ignored.
“I don’t want to prejudice the best possible relations with a
very important friend and neighbor,” he said.
“But I’ve got to say that we can’t just ignore this type of
thing, if the perfectly reasonable representations that we are
making to Indonesia are ignored by them.”
Other Australian politicians, meanwhile, were much more direct as
to how they believed Tony Abbott should handle the bilateral row.
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Controversial Senator Jacqui Lambie said the prime minister had
to “put his foot down” and “pull the bloody foreign
aid.”
“My heart goes out to their families and friends, there is no
doubt about that. I know if it was my mates or my sons I would
certainly be feeling the pinch. I’d remind Australia that they
give $500 million in foreign aid to Indonesia,” Lambie said,
as quoted by the Australian newspaper.
Meanwhile, an interesting argument to grant the Australians
clemency was forwarded by Jeff Hammond, a Jakarta-based pastor
who has been counseling Andrew Chan.
Hammond argued that executing the two men would send a message to
other individuals on death row that any efforts at personal
rehabilitation was senseless because the men would be killed
regardless, he told ABC radio.