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INDONESIAN PRESIDENT JOKO WIDODO: TRUE AGENT OF THE RULE OF LAW?

BY JUDGE ELIZA B. YU, LLM, DCL

In the Rule of Law, there exists an agreement between the Indonesian State as a
principal and the Indonesian President as an agent who will act on behalf of the former
by enforcing the Constitution and statutes that promote the general welfare of the
Indonesian people as introduced in Indonesias Pancasila, an official philosophical
foundation that comprises five principles held to be inseparable and interrelated:

1. Belief in the one and only God (in Indonesian, Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa);

2. Just and civilized humanity (in Indonesian, Kemanusiaan Yang Adil dan Beradab);

3. The unity of Indonesia (in Indonesian, Persatuan Indonesia);

4. Democracy guided by the inner wisdom in the unanimity arising out of deliberations
amongst representatives (in Indonesian, Kerakyatan Yang Dipimpin oleh Hikmat
Kebijaksanaan, Dalam Permusyawaratan dan Perwakilan);

5. Social justice for all of the people of Indonesia (in Indonesian, Keadilan Sosial bagi
seluruh Rakyat Indonesia).

According to the Indonesian Constitution, its government is a presidential system. There


are six organs of the Indonesian State. Sovereignty in Indonesia resides in the
Indonesians, who exercise their will through the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR). Indonesian President exercises full executive authority. He is elected by and
responsible to the MPR. The legislative power of the Indonesian President is shared
with the House of People's Representatives (DPR). Supreme Advisory Council is the
adviser of the President. The State Audit Board exercises financial oversight. The
Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of Indonesia. In a decade, Indonesia
achieved relative political and macroeconomic stability, made important progress toward
its Millennium Development Goal targets, graduated from a Middle Income Country
status and was welcomed to the fold of the G20. However significant challenges to
development remain. Problematic drug use has increased in the last decade, and
Indonesia is now a major manufacturer for the growing amphetamine-type stimulant
market. The link between drug use and HIV/AIDS remains strong, as statistics indicate
that 40% of all HIV/AIDS cases consist of injecting drug users. Drug trafficking is one of
the growing concerns of the government.

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On April 28, 2015, two Australians, a Brazilian, four Nigerian men, a Filipina and an
Indonesian who were convicted of drug crimes in Indonesia have been scheduled to
be executed by firing squad on a remote island off the southern coast of Java,
Indonesia.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has appealed to Indonesia to stop the planned
executions of nine prisoners within days for drug-related crimes who have been
transported to the high-security prison island of Nusakambangan, where they are set to
face a firing squad, despite mounting international criticism. Similar appeals were made
by foreign affairs of the countries whose nationals are due for execution.

President Benigno Aquino III made personal appeal to spare the life of convicted drug
smuggler Mary Jane Veloso from the Philippines to President Joko Widodo during the
26th Asean Summit. Later on, President Joko Widodo instructed his Foreign Minister to
convey to the Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs the final view of the Indonesian
Attorney General that there is no basis to reconsider the death sentence; that the
execution will need to be enforced. Vice President Jejomar Binay made an earlier
appeal to Indonesia that was rejected. Congressman Manny Pacquiao, militants and
protesters made their public appeals and intercessions to President Joko Widodo to
stop the planned execution of Mary Jane Veloso whose second appeal was denied by
an Indonesian court.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo resistance to international influences and pressures


is due to his sincere effort to combat what he calls a national emergency of drug
abuse. He rejected appeals for clemency from the drug convicts on death row, majority
of them are foreigners, who will be executed by the end of the year. His effort and
resistance have angered other countries and disrupted diplomatic ties among them.

One of the backbones of the Rule of Law is all who violate the law, including the State
itself, are held to account. Indonesian President Joko Widodo will lose his backbone as
a leader who supports the Rule of Law if he accommodates or yields to international
pressures or political interferences to bend the law, if not disobey it, by sparing the lives
of the convicted drug smugglers and traffickers when the Indonesian law provides death
penalty after the completion of the processes and workings of the criminal justice
system where the accused were given due process and fair trial.

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo, an intelligent and strong head of State, brushed
aside foreign appeals, criticisms, influences, interferences and pressures. He
demanded other nations respect Indonesias sovereign right to exercise the laws. In
standing firm to enforce the death sentences of the convicted drug smugglers and
traffickers amidst the noisy rallies and protests that were well publicized by media, he
showed his fidelity and obedience to the Rule of Law as its true agent as opposed to
hypocrite agents who abound in this age of materialism. The Rule of Law must
strengthen not strain international relations.

Indonesia is lucky to have President Joko Widodo, a rags to riches politician, as its
leader who has no corruption issue.

Reuters reported that President Joko Widodo's father was a truck driver, his mother a
bamboo seller, and his childhood home a shack on the banks of the Kalianyar River in
Solo. Later, his father ran a small timber business, and he studied at the forestry
department of Universitas Gadjah Mada in the nearby city of Yogyakarta. He was the
first member of his family to attend university. It taught him a valuable lesson: poor
people who don't understand the value of education remain poor. During his walkabout
in Tambora, he not only inspected burned-out houses but also handed out free books
and school bags to children. "Study! Study!" he urged, as they mobbed his departing
car.Exporting furniture made him a millionaire and a prominent solo businessman. But it
was the city's deteriorating state that lured him into politics. Riots during the 1998
downfall of the dictator Suharto razed homes and businesses in Solo and wrecked its
economy. The city was also notorious as the home of radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar
Bashir, considered the spiritual leader of the bombers who killed more than 200 people
in Bali in 2002. "Investors didn't trust our city," he says. Campaigning with the slogan
"Shining Without Corruption", he became Solo's first directly elected mayor in 2005. His
signature achievement was unclogging Solo's streets and public spaces by relocating
thousands of illegal vendors to new facilities. He did this through incentives discussed at
dozens of meetings with the vendors, often over lunch or dinner. "He kept on talking
until he convinced them," says Widodo's friend Mari Pangestu, then Indonesia's trade
minister and now its minister of tourism and creative economy. "He's very persistent -
not pushy, but persistent. If he believes in that idea he'll keep coming back to you and
follow up." After revitalizing Solo's traditional markets, he attracted new business by
setting up a one-stop shop that allowed investors to cut through bureaucratic corruption
and red tape. Corrupt officials were fired. He and his then-deputy Hadi Rudyanto also
improved slums and access to healthcare services, and boosted tourism by promoting
Solo as a centre for Javanese art and culture. They were re-elected in 2010 with 90% of
the vote. He abandoned his second term as Solo mayor to run for Jakarta governor,
easily beating the Jakarta-born incumbent, Fauzi Bowo (Insight: Presidency beckons for
Jakarta's rags-to-riches governor BY KANUPRIYA KAPOOR , REUTERS, Sat Jun 1,

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2013 8:17pm EDT). His win was widely seen as reflecting popular voter support for
"new" or "clean" leaders rather than the "old" style of politics in Indonesia. On July 22,
2014, he was named as president-elect and was declared as the winner of the election
by the General Elections Commission (Komisi Pemilihan Umum or KPU), winning more
than 53% of the vote over his opponent, Prabowo Subianto, who disputed the outcome
and withdrew from the race before the count was completed.

*Eight out of nine prisoners convicted of drug offences in Indonesia have been
executed by firing squad few hours after posting this legal blog at Google Plus,
Wordpress and Tumblr.

** The grant of reprieve to Mary Jane Veloso gave the impression among the
intellectuals that:

1. Turning a convicted drug smuggler into a State Witness, locally or internationally, can
stop executions in Indonesia;

2. Other countries can order arrest of recruiters and other persons in drug syndicates
so their nationals convicted of drug offense can testify in their place that will stop their
executions in Indonesia;

3. Indonesia can stop executions of convicted drug offender even for a ground not
under its Constitution, criminal laws and rules of court;

4. The ground of turning a convicted drug offender into a State Witness to stop the
execution is an implied pressure to succumb to the laws of other countries, like
Indonesia surrendering its own laws to the Philippines;

5. Indonesian President looked silly and weak while Philippine President looked smart
and strong with the grant of reprieve to a convicted Filipina drug smuggler based on an
ingenious legal ground not raised on appeals, not even during the trials in Indonesia
where the accused was given all the opportunity to adduce evidence on her behalf. The
alleged illegal recruiter is a victim herself who lives in a shanty according to Chief
Public Attorney Persida Rueda - Acosta. The alleged illegal recruiter testified against
Mary Jane Veloso who was talking to strangers at a hotel etc. in the media before the
scheduled execution. The Indonesian court assessed all the proofs against Mary Jane
Veloso as a drug mule. Based on her published letters online, Mary Jane Veloso has
knowledge of drug smuggling that she did not present evidence to prove she is a victim
of drug syndicate during her trials. She did not call the arrested illegal recruiter to
corroborate her testimony. After her arrest, she was silent. Before her arrest, she did not
tell the police at airport that her bag is unusually heavy to check it further, when she

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asked the same from the givers of suitcase and $500 to her, why her bag was heavy
and the answer that it was new. The 6 pounds of heroin had been hidden, to prove
planning. She failed to give the identities and location of the people who gave to her the
suitcase containing heroin to the police. Moreover, she cannot satisfactorily explain
what she will do in Indonesia upon her arrest by police. It appeared that the last minute
stopping of execution was based from a "contrived" legal ground with the belated arrest
of the alleged illegal recruiter as a scapegoat. To make Mary Jane Veloso as a State
Witness in the Philippines is an indirect way to evade criminal prosecution in
Indonesia that can be followed by other countries;

6. Media reported that Migrante made Pres. Joko Widodo cried with the story of Mary
Jane Veloso as a domestic helper that may have caused him to change his mind to halt
the execution. This is bad to the Rule of Law, clearly defeated by human emotions and
political pressures; and

7. Indonesia President changed his mind without changing the laws on execution of
convicted drug smugglers. Selective justice? Double standards? Pres. Joko Widodo is
smart and strong leader, yet his achilles' heel is a crying heart. He cried with the story of
Mary Jane Veloso before Migrante. The court case was clear. Her story was heart-
wrenching, moving, pitiful and so are the appeals, protests, rallies, masses. Indonesian
President just grant her an executive clemency rather than turn her into State Witness
in a trial that will take years to resolve in the Philippines. Thanks to him for doing it if
ever. The end of the long story.

*** Version of Defense Mary Jane Veloso can be destroyed in a rigid cross-
examination that can establish the drug offense. Please see this link:

http://www.rappler.com/nation/91026-mary-jane-veloso-narrative

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