Jakarta rebukes Tony Abbott for conflating the issues of aid funding to Indonesia with appeals for clemency for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Indonesia has said it will not respond to “threats” from Australia over aid funding, and is continuing to plan the execution of Australian drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

Jakarta has sternly rebuked Australian prime minister Tony Abbott for conflating the issues of Australia’s aid funding to Indonesia – particularly in the wake of the 2004 tsunami – with appeals for clemency for the pair.

Abbott linked the men’s fate to Australia’s donation of $1bn in aid following the Indian Ocean tsunami.

“We will be letting Indonesia know in absolutely unambiguous terms that we feel grievously let down,” Abbott said.

“I would say to the Indonesia people and the government, we in Australia are always there to help you and we hope that you might reciprocate in this way at this time.”

Indonesia’s foreign affairs ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir condemned the the prime minister’s language. “Threats are not part of diplomatic language … and from what I know, no one responds well to threats,” he said.

Indonesia says plans for the execution of the Australian pair are continuing. Their transfer from Bali’s Kerobokan prison to Nusa Kambangan, south of Java, has been delayed until next week at the earliest, but government officials have stressed the delay is not an indication the men’s sentences are being reconsidered.

There is no hope for clemency, government officials from president Joko Widodo down have repeatedly stressed.

Fairfax Media have reported that Widodo decided to reject clemency for a number of drug offenders on death row without examining all the documents attached to their cases.

He had “just a few pieces of papers listing names of people on death row”, a source familiar with the case told Fairfax.

New president Widodo has consistently vowed to be tough on drug crimes, promising before, and when, he came to office, that he would offer “no clemency” to any of the 64 drug offenders on death row.

Chan and Sukumaran were convicted for their roles in the so-called Bali Nine, caught at Denpasar airport trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005. They have been in jail on the island since.

Almost 2,500 people attended a vigil for the pair in Melbourne’s Federation Square on Wednesday night. Events were also held in Perth and Brisbane.



Supporters of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran gather for a vigil at Federation Square in Melbourne on Wednesday evening. Photograph: Julian Smith/AAP

In Toongabbie, at the C3 Sri Lankan community church attended by Sukumaran’s family, a letter from Sukumaran, read to the congregation, thanked the people of Australia for their unwavering support.



“Whatever happens, I know that me and Andrew are good people now, and even though we have been in prison with a death sentence, we have been truly blessed,” he wrote.

A letter from Chan called for a broader mercy, rather than a focus on their cases alone.

“Please don’t let this just be about myself and Myuran,” he said.



Broadcaster Alan Jones said clemency should be extended to all prisoners on death row in Indonesia, of all nationalities.

“In the sea of humanity we are all part of the one family,” he said. “We stand for mercy because we are all imperfect.”

The Indonesian justice system should be congratulated, Jones said, for successfully rehabilitating two men who had committed a serious crime.

“You took in two young people and somehow or other these are not the two boys that they were 10 years ago,” he said. “We congratulate you.”



Sukumaran’s grandmother, Edith Visvanathan, said she was asking the Indonesian president “to forgive him and give him another chance”.



“He’s a loving and kind-hearted boy,” she said.