Bali executions

BY DELAYING the execution of the three men responsible for the 2002 Bali bombing atrocities for five years after their convictions, and by allowing them the freedom to pursue their propaganda openly from prison in the meantime, the Indonesian authorities have got the worst of both worlds.

This approach has allowed the three to maximise an image of Islamic martyrdom which in fact has little support from most Indonesians and whose appeal has also been much weakened since then.

These two realities underline that the death sentences and executions were counter-productive as well as morally wrong. This issue has been highlighted by the fact that three Australians are among nine people being held on death row in Indonesia after being convicted of drugs offences. Relatives of a number of the 88 Australians who perished in the 2002 attacks, in which a total of 202 people died, appealed against the executions, saying they could not atone for their loss. The Australian government is to push for a new United Nations resolution against the death penalty, with support from New Zealand and the Philippines.

So the decision to go ahead with the executions has raised the issue once again in the Asian region. As one of the lawyers working for the Australian prisoners puts it, the death penalty is "premeditated, state-sanctioned, ritualised killing, a failure of justice. To confuse hatred or vengeance with enduring principles of justice is a mistake, allowing, as it does, emotional responses to form foundations for how society works. The data has made it clear again and again: Executions do not act as a deterrent. What they do is lower respect for life."

Bali is a Hindu enclave in the overwhelmingly Muslim archipelago. But although Indonesia is the largest Muslim state in the world its peoples are overwhelmingly peaceful and moderate Muslims. The fundamentalist Jemaah Islamiyah movement of which the executed three were leaders has minimal and declining influence, as terrorist methods were discredited by the 2002 and subsequent atrocities. Such movements were originally stimulated by the Afghan war and later claimed a loose allegiance to al-Qaeda. There are Islamic movements in Indonesia, but they prefer political struggle and are in direct competition with growing secular or modernist parties which support a more tolerant society.

That vision has been regrettably and unfortunately set back by these executions. It will be up to Indonesians themselves to draw the necessary political conclusions.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times