Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed by firing squad at 12.35am local time (3.35am Australian time) today, along with six others. In response to the deaths of the convicted drug smugglers, the Prime Minister has announced that Australia’s ambassador has been withdrawn from Indonesia.
The Chan and Sukumaran families have released a statement paying tribute to their sons and thanking people for their support:
“Today we lost Myuran and Andrew. Our sons, our brothers. In the ten years since they were arrested, they did all they could to make amends, helping many others. They asked for mercy, but there was none. They were immensely grateful for all the support they received. We too, will be forever grateful.”
Australian lawyer Peter Morrissey told the ABC: “It’s awful, I know, but the two boys died well. You know, they made their preparations, they were dignified, they’re strong against the death penalty,they’re supportive of their families. They tasted how awful this would be.”
Michael Chan, older brother of Andrew, tweeted after the executions: “I have just lost a Courageous brother to a flawed Indonesian legal system. I miss you already RIP my Little Brother”. Todung Mulya Lubis, one of the men’s legal team, tweeted “I failed. I lost.” and “I am sorry”.
Six other men, five of them foreign nationals, were also executed alongside the Australians. Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino woman who was also due to be executed, was spared at the 11th hour, after her recruiter reportedly handed herself in to authorities in the Philippines. Veloso was convicted for smuggling heroin in 2010, but has always maintained that she was innocent and carrying the drugs unwittingly.
Ambulances carrying the coffins of the dead have travelled from Nusakambangan to Cilacap this morning.
The ABC has reported Australia’s Consul-General to Bali Majell Hind has left Cilacap.
Australia will withdraw its ambassador to Indonesia, Paul Grigson, by the end of the week. Tony Abbott described the executions as “both cruel and unnecessary”. In a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, the PM said that removing Australia’s ambassador was unprecedented. “I don’t want to minimise the gravity of what we’ve done. Ministerial contacts have been suspended for some time once it became apparent that the executions were likely, ministerial contacts were suspended, and they will remain suspended for a period.”
Abbott said: “I absolutely understand people’s anger. Yes, the drug trade is evil, and these two committed a serious crime. But particularly given the last 10 years and the very thorough rehabilitation and reform that these two demonstrated, it is, as I said, cruel and unnecessary what has taken place. So I absolutely understand people’s anger.”
Greens Leader Christine Milne voiced her support for the Prime Minister’s decision to withdraw the Australian ambassador from Indonesia:
“In terms of the relationship between Australia and Indonesia, there is no doubt in my mind that for the majority of Australians, the presidency of Mr Widodo is going to be defined by the fact that he proceeded with these executions, that he did not extend the clemency that was asked for by our PM, by our Foreign Minister, by all of us in the Parliament who stood together and asked that clemency be granted.”
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has also supported the decision but warned Australians that they shouldn’t take out their anger on individual Indonesian people. “There’s ordinary Indonesians, there’s ordinary Balinese, I’m not sure that they should be the aim of our frustration here. I think our frustration’s with their legal system and also with the fact that these executions have taken place,” he said on a Melbourne radio station.
Independent Senator Nick Xenophon told ABC News 24 that the opinions of Australians have greatly shifted over the last decade: “I think today there are millions of Australians who are genuinely mourning their deaths and it just seems so unnecessary.”
Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer has tweeted a press release announcing that he will introduce a private member’s bill to prevent the executions of Australians overseas:
“The Foreign Death Penalty Offences (Preventing Information Disclosure) Bill 2015 proposed by Mr Palmer is a Bill for an Act to prevent the disclosure of information by public officials in circumstances that may lead to the imposition of the death penalty in foreign countries.”
Palmer said “if the Australian Federal Police are aware of Australians involved in a capital punishment crime committed in a foreign country, then they should not be allowed to provide information which could expedite the death penalty”. Bishop was asked about the conduct of the AFP at this morning’s press conference but said today was not a day to point fingers. “The involvement of the Australian Federal Police was reviewed a number of years ago and changes were made. We are satisfied that the changes that are in place were appropriate, but I don’t believe today is the time to look for recriminations.”
The Mercy Campaign has updated its website to include only a photo of Chan and Sukumaran, the names of the eight men killed and a quote from Chan:
“This campaign is more than just about myself or Myu. It represents a second chance and forgiveness, it represents kindness and help for those in a helpless situation. Mercy represents all of us here.
“I would like you to take a moment and reflect just on the word mercy. Please don’t let this just be about myself and Myu, but about others all over the world who need your help.”
University of Melbourne Professor Richard Tanter told The Mandarin journalist David Donaldson the executions would “poison” Australia’s relationship with Indonesia: “We have a very bad relationship with Indonesia. It’s thin, uneven, volatile, asymmetrical. The relationship consists of government to government and military to military links, but not many business ties, and not many social connections other than with Bali,” said Tanter.
“When this is freighted with so many other issues — corruption, lack of transparency, double standards, this is going to be something that lays on the relationship with Indonesia more than anything in the past, other than East Timor.”
It is time we withdraw both Aid funding and support from joint operations. We will likely see the investigation to bribery and political interference turn up results, yet you cannot un-murder someone.
I don’t require such Australian outrage when Indonesia executed the Bali bombers.
This talk of aid funding removal is one of the reasons Widodo continued with his hardline stance – so as not to appear weak in the face of perceived financial bullying from a wealthier country.
A position that allowed Widodo to save face, maintaining his appearance of strength, may have allowed the executed to serve out their lives making right what their actions would have otherwise harmed.
Now, no-one is benefiting from them.
The real question to be investigated here is who in “Howards Government” authorized the (Australian Federal Police) to release this pair from the airport knowing they were carrying these drugs and then notify the Indonesian authorities about them.
This decision would have been made by a government minister and not the Federal Police unless of course the Feds were working in a clandestine manner. Think back 10 years as these 2 have been imprisoned since then and it was the “Howard Government” in office, so who was the “Minister of Police” back then??. I think you should throw this one across the threads Sally cause we still don’t have an answer to these questions.
#2 Gavin Moodie at 9:25 am
Quite ignoring the fact that the Bali bombers were Indonesian nationals so strictly it was none of our business. It is also not entirely true. There were commentators who thought that execution was just going to make religious martyrs of them, especially as they apparently welcomed their own deaths as their ticket to paradise etc ..
I hate the populist hysteria too but in this case, because there are several other nations involved (Brazil, France, British, Holland, Philippines, Nigeria) and all are complaining about these executions of their nationals for crimes that in most countries are not capital crimes, then the official response(s) serves as a political teaching moment for Indonesia and its neophyte president. Particularly when he has been such a hypocrite in seeking the same thing (a pardon from execution) from Saudi Arabia as Australia has from him, It may produce a backlash but that is as may be (and part of the learning thing).
It may even be possible that, now that Widodo has “shown” he is a strongman and has not wavered in the face of strong protests from those foreign devils, he may never do it again (well, after the current batch, of which last nights was the first subset, who have long been in the executioners queue). We can be cynical about what positive effect there might be but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t send the message.