‘These executions are both cruel and unnecessary … both of these young Australians were fully rehabilitated while in prison,’ prime minister says

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Australia will withdraw its ambassador to Indonesia in protest at the “cruel and unnecessary” execution of two citizens on Wednesday.

The prime minister, Tony Abbott, announced the decision hours after Indonesia proceeded with the firing-squad execution of the Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan and six other people for drug offences.



The ambassador, Paul Grigson, will leave Jakarta this week in a form of protest Australia did not adopt after several previous cases of citizens facing the death penalty.

The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, said the recall was intended “to register our displeasure at the way our citizens have been treated”. She said the government would consult Grigson on the way forward for relations between the two countries in the longer term.

Abbott said ministerial contacts between the two countries had been suspended “and they will remain suspended for a period”.

“These executions are both cruel and unnecessary; cruel because both Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran spent some decade in jail before being executed, and unnecessary, because both of these young Australians were fully rehabilitated while in prison,” the prime minister said.

“Australia respects the Indonesian system. We respect Indonesia’s sovereignty but we do deplore what’s been done and this cannot be simply business as usual.”

Indonesia’s attorney general, HM Prasetyo, said the withdrawal of the ambassador would be only “momentary”.

“The Netherlands have done the same thing in the past. Brazil has done the same thing,” he said. “I think this is just a momentary reaction, and this will be settled within the diplomatic sphere. What we are doing is carrying out the court decision. Every case should have an end.”

The Indonesian foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, said it was Australia’s right to withdraw the ambassador.

“The withdrawal of the ambassador, calling the ambassador for consultation, is the right of the sending country, in this case the right of Australia,” Marsudi said on the sidelines of an event at Bidakara Hotel in Jakarta on Wednesday.

She stressed the importance of the bilateral relationship.



“Every time we communicate with Australia, we always emphasise the desire of Indonesia to continue the good relationship. For Indonesia, Australia is an important partner, and I think for Australia, Indonesia is an important partner.”

Abbott said the Australia-Indonesia relationship was “very important” but had suffered as a result of the executions and would go through “a dark moment”. He hoped relations could be restored.

“Whatever people think of the death penalty, whatever people think of drug crime, the fact is that these two families have suffered an appalling tragedy and I’m sure that every Australian’s thoughts and prayers will be with those families at this time,” he said.

“As a parent, as a family member myself, I feel for these families at what is a very, very difficult time.”

Bishop said she had been in contact with the men’s families overnight and they were in “a devastating position” and had been subjected to a “ghastly” ordeal.

Australia had continued to seek a stay of execution “right up until the last minute” based on concerns that the rehabilitation of the pair had apparently not been taken into account, she said.

“Our consular officials will arrange for the bodies to be repatriated to Australia and to ensure that they are treated with appropriate dignity and respect,” Bishop said.



When asked whether the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, had given Australia’s representations due consideration, Abbott said: “I don’t want to personalise it but obviously I do regret that while my representations have been listened to patiently and courteously, they have not been heeded.”

Abbott appeared to caution Australians against boycotting Indonesia, saying while people were entitled to be angry they should be “very careful to ensure that we do not allow our anger to make a bad situation worse”.



Australian MPs from all sides of politics expressed their anger at the execution of Chan and Sukumuran, who were the subject of a long campaign for clemency.



Many politicians referred to the widely accepted accounts of Chan and Sukumaran’s rehabilitation in prison after they were convicted over the 2005 Bali Nine heroin smuggling plot.



The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, and the deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, condemned the executions “in the strongest possible terms” and backed “a strong response from the Australian government”.



“Our best hopes have been dashed and our worst fears realised,” Shorten and Plibersek said in a joint statement. “Indonesia has not just robbed two young men of their lives but robbed itself of two examples of the strengths of its justice system.”

“A decade ago, these two young men made a dreadful mistake. By all accounts they spent every minute since seeking to mend their ways and to steer others on the road to redemption – proof the justice system could reform wrongdoers, not just punish wrongdoing. Yet today, they were made to pay for one stupid decision of 10 years ago with their lives.”

Shorten and Plibersek said the executions significantly weakened Indonesia’s ability to plead mercy for its own citizens facing execution around the world.



They said Australia was “deeply hurt” its pleas for mercy were ignored and described it as “completely unacceptable for Indonesia to proceed as it did when critical legal processes were yet to run their course, raising serious questions about Indonesia’s commitment to the rule of law”.

The Greens called on Abbott to also suspend the credentials of Indonesia’s ambassador in Australia until the consultations with Grigson were completed.

The party’s leader, Christine Milne, said Chan and Sukumaran would be remembered “for overcoming their past to live meaningful lives, even from prison, not just for the way they died”.

“Their actions over the past 10 years were testament to their remorse, and have given many of their fellow prisoners an opportunity to live better lives,” she said. “It is a tragedy Andrew and Myuran were denied their own second chance.

“Capital punishment must be abolished wherever in the world it is still carried out. We in Australia must continue to advocate for an end to capital punishment and promote human rights around the world, especially in our region.”

The New South Wales premier, Mike Baird, said it was a “cruel and devastating loss” while the federal Labor frontbencher Jason Clare tweeted: “So sad. So bloody unnecessary.”

The federal Liberal MP Craig Laundy said: “Yesterday Chan and Sukumaran were living proof of the rehabilitative power of the Indonesian penal system. Today Indonesia killed them.”



Steven Ciobo, the parliamentary secretary to Bishop, said: “There are few greater displays of abuse of state power and regressive thinking than the death penalty.”