Amir said no deal had been made with Australia with regard to Corby`s clemency, but the government had issued it after all requirements were met and with the hope that other countries would also see the government`s goodwill.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A senior minister called on the public here on Thursday to stop making speeches about Corby`s clemency, since it was legally issued by authorities.

Corby, an Australian citizen sentenced to 20 years in jail in Denpasar for smuggling marijuana, received a sentence reduction of five years following a presidential decision, sparking some criticism from various quarters.

The senior minister who is coordinating security, political and law affairs, Djoko Suyanto, meanwhile, said that the clemency had also been given to several other foreigners based upon various considerations, including humanitarian concerns.

"So, the president did not only consider advice from the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, and the Attorney General when deciding to give clemency, but also other factors, such as diplomatic relations with Australia and others, and he had considered them comprehensively," he said.

He added that the clemency had been given not only to Corby, but also three other foreigners. "It is the minister of justice who knows it well," he said.

"The question is why should the case have been made into a polemic? The authority is in the hands of the President. It, indeed, could be made into a polemic if the president does not have the authority," he added.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Amir Syamsudin had acknowledged to newsmen that besides Corby, there were others who that had been given clemency.

"There is also a German citizen who was sentenced to five years in a Denpasar jail for possessing four grams of methamphetamine. His sentence was cut by two years and he is still in Denpasar prison serving the rest of his sentence. Another one is from Nepal, given clemency due to humanitarian reasons. He has been sentenced to life and he is already very old. So, when the clemency was issued it was not exclusively for Corby, but also several others," he said.

Amir said no deal had been made with Australia with regard to Corby`s clemency, but the government had issued it after all requirements were met and with the hope that other countries would also see the government`s goodwill.

"The President has always been criticized when our citizens were sentenced to death. Well, this sentence reduction policy has proven to have successfully saved our citizens in Malaysia and Saudi, and so it was hoped, although no commitment or deal had been made with Australia, (that it would lead to that). We hope the good relations between the two countries would be motivated by steps like this one," he said.

The minister added that Corby was jailed for a marijuana, not heroin, conviction, which influenced the consideration. In view of that, he denied that the government had not been serious in fighting drugs.

Minister Amir further said "we have not been dictated to (by Australia) in the case. We saw experiences that sentence reduction for several foreigners could bring something that could help our citizens in those countries."

He said not many people knew that many Indonesian citizens had been saved through sentence reduction policies, such as in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

He added that sentence reductions by the Supreme Court or a presidential pardon had been considered positive by those friendly countries, and tens of Indonesian citizens had been saved from heavy sentences, including a death sentence, because of that.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012