“Portait of Andrew Chan”, Myuran Sukumaran (1981-2015), Bali, 2014

“Self Portrait”, Myuran Sukumaran (1981-2015), Bali, 2014

“Flag”, Myuran Sukumaran (1981-2015), Java, 2015



“Heart”, Myuran Sukumaran (1981-2015), Java, 2015



“Self Portrait”, Myuran Sukumaran (1981-2015), Java, 2015



ORIGINAL POST RE TOP TWO PAINTINGS: These two portraits were recently completed by Myuran Sukumaran, who is on death row in Indonesia for the attempted smuggling of heroin from Bali to Australia. At the time of writing, he and Andrew Chan (1984-), also on death row, were awaiting imminent execution.

Sukumaran has been on death row since 2006. In 2010, he took up painting. In early 2015, he received a degree in fine art from Curtin University. His work has impressed some of Australia’s finest artists, including Ben Quilty (featured earlier in this blog). Above are his portraits of himself and Chan, in his characteristic “thick” style, which portray a stoic pair coping with an extraordinary ordeal.

Sukumaran established an art studio within Kerobokan prison in Bali, his home of the last decade until the last week. He, and mentors such as Quilty, conducted art classes for inmates. So popular were the classes that former inmates and guards attended. As with Chan, it seems clear that Sukumaran has been rehabilitated and has much to offer, if permitted to live.

Sadly, it seems that those classes must now proceed without Sukumaran who, along with Chan, was moved from Kerobokan to Nusakambangan in Java a few days ago, where the executions are intended to take place.

Sukumaran and Chan were the ringleaders of the “Bali 9”, a group of nine Australians who tried to export 8 kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005. They were apprehended after the Australian Federal Police alerted the Bali police to the plan, rather than take the option of arresting them as they arrived at Australian airports. The AFP’s actions were highly controversial, as it exposed the members of the Bali 9 to the possibility of the death penalty. That fate now seems to await Chan and Sukumaran.

The executions, if carried out, will breach human rights in several ways. International human rights law only contemplates the death penalty for intentional homicide, which does not include drug offences. All on death row are entitled to a consideration of clemency. Yet it is clear that Indonesia’s President, Joko Widodo, rejected clemency petitions en masse, rather than take into account individual circumstances.

Furthermore, legal proceedings remain afoot - to challenge that flawed clemency process and to question whether the sentencing judges were corrupt. It would be a travesty if Chan and Sukumaran are executed while legal challenges are ongoing. Finally, the method of execution, by firing squad, is unduly cruel, as death may come agonisingly slowly.

Indeed, the process has already breached human rights. If the sentence was indeed imposed corruptly, the trial was clearly not fair. The constant speculation by Indonesian authorities about the impending executions has ramped up the anxiety to unbearable levels, for both the condemned men and their families. The removal of Chan and Sukumaran from Bali’s Kerobokan prison to Indonesia’s “execution island” was premature, cutting them off from legal representatives, and perhaps sending a signal to the courts to butt out. And the extraordinary level of force used in that removal, a paramilitary exercise to transfer two unarmed men, only reinforced that signal (that level of force was not used to move other condemned prisoners to the island).

It is hoped that Indonesian authorities will cease to tread this deadly and abusive path and, in spite of their professed intentions, spare the lives of Chan and Sukumaran, as well as the others on its death row. May the dates given for their lives, above as of March 6, remain the same for a long time to come.

UPDATE - 6 March: Indonesia will postpone the executions until current open legal avenues are exhausted, according to reports.

UPDATE - 29 April: the executions were carried out this morning, even though a constitutional case remains pending regarding the clemency process. RIP

I have added three of Sukumaran’s last paintings. “Flag” shows flowing blood in the Indonesian flag. “Heart” was signed at the back by Sukumaran, Chan and eight others scheduled to die with them. In the end, one of those who signed, Mary Jane Veloso from the Philippines, was spared at the last minute. Chan, Sukumaran and six others were executed by firing squad at 12:25am local time.

The last painting is one of Sukumaran’s last self portraits. It speaks for itself.