Imparsial: Implementation of the Death Penalty in Indonesia Inherits The Dutch Colonial Law

Friday, March 12th, 2021 18:28 WIB

TRIBUNNEWS.COM, JAKARTA – An Imparsial researcher, Amalia Suri revealed that the implementation of the death penalty in Indonesia actually inherited the Dutch colonial law. "We still practice the death penalty, inheriting the Dutch colonial law," said Amalia in the webinar "Death Penalty for Corruptors, Is It Right?" which was held on Friday (12/3/2021). According to Amalia, this is ironic because the Netherlands itself has withdrawn the application of the death penalty from its legal system.

While on the other hand, Indonesia is still adopting it until now. "Even though it's actually funny, the Netherlands itself has abolished the death penalty in all laws in its country," said Amalia.

For Amalia, Indonesia acted half-heartedly in adopting the legal system in the Netherlands. Considering that Indonesia did not participate in revoking the implementation of the death penalty. At the international level, since 2009, 106 countries have completely abolished the death penalty from their positive laws.

Then there are 36 countries that still have the death penalty but have not carried out executions in the last 10 years. Meanwhile, there are around 50 countries that are still serving the death penalty. Indonesia is one of them. "So we are a minority who still practice the death penalty," said Amalia.

The application of the death penalty, according to Amalia, is ironic because in the constitution the right to life is guaranteed. According to him, the right to life is the most basic right that cannot be reduced under any circumstances.

“It is ironic that our law still legalizes the death penalty. However, the right to life is guaranteed by the constitution. This is something contradictory,” concluded Amalia. Based on Imparsial's records, from the Indonesian government executed 84 people from 1960 to 2016.