From a humanitarian view, death sentence cannot be correlated with the tsunami aids in Aceh."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Deputy Head of Commission II of the House of Representatives Lukman Edy extended his support to the "Coin for Australia" campaign in response to a statement by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Tony Abbott had recently invoked Australias financial aid for the 2004 tsunami victims in Aceh while pleading for the lives of two of its nationals facing execution in Indonesia.

"I want to respond to PM Abbots statement by supporting the coin-collection campaign for (to repay aids) Australia," Lukman Edy said here Monday.

Lukman Edy noted that Abbott shouldnt have correlated the Indonesian policy on death sentence with the bilateral relation between the two countries.

The coin-collection campaign is Indonesian peoples symbolic disapproval of the Australian PMs statement.

"We will have a box ready (at the Houses building) so that the people can participate in the campaign," Lukman Edy added.

"From a humanitarian view, death sentence cannot be correlated with the tsunami aids in Aceh," he pointed out.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott had recently asked for the cancellation of the execution of two Australian drug convicts in exchange for Australias aid to Indonesia during the tsunami disaster.

In response to the Australian Prime Ministers statement, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi had remarked that Indonesia understood well the Australian governments concern over the imminent execution of its two citizens.

She, however, emphasized that the executions are part of Indonesias law enforcement process and are not aimed at certain nationalities.

The coin-collecting campaign was initiated by the people of Aceh, the Indonesian province that was hit hardest by the 2004 tsunami.

On Saturday (Feb. 21), a group of students from KAMMI (the United Front of Indonesian Muslim Students) staged the coin-collecting campaign in Aceh.

The campaign became a trending topic on Twitter with hashtags such as #coinsforAbbott and #coinforAustralia going viral.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran have been sentenced to death by firing.

The two were arrested along with seven other Australians when they were attempting to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin from Bali to Sydney in Australia in 2005. President Joko Widodo had recently rejected Sukumarans clemency petition.

(Reporting by Imam Budilaksono/Uu.A059/INE/KR-BSR/B003)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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