It was a feat of diplomacy: the release of the five remaining Australians who were part of the infamous drug smuggling gang ‘Bali Nine’ from Indonesian captivity. After almost twenty years, Australians and their families had all but given up hope for a diplomatic solution. But this weekend, after months of negotiations, the five men were on a scheduled flight to Darwin.
There they were not welcomed by family, friends or journalists, but taken straight to a temporary shelter. A conscious choice by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who personally lobbied hard for their transfer to Australia. The return of the Australians was not celebrated lavishly out of respect for Indonesian government leader Prabowo Subianto. Albanese thanked his counterpart for his “show of compassion.”
It is no longer up for discussion that the five will be released. Indonesian Minister of Immigration and Prisons Yusril Ihza Mahendra said in late November The Jakarta Post still to transfer the detainees to their country so that “they can complete their sentences there.” But he immediately added that he would “respect” it if the country wanted to “grant them amnesty.”
Matthew Norman, Michael Czugaj, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens and Si-Yi Chen were between 18 and 28 years old when they were arrested on the Indonesian island of Bali for smuggling more than eight kilos of heroin. An embarrassing detail was that the father of one of the suspects tipped off the Australian police because he wanted to prevent his son from traveling from Indonesia to Australia with drugs. The Australian police did not prevent this but informed the Indonesian authorities, after which the suspects with the hard drugs were arrested when they tried to smuggle them out of Indonesia.
They spent almost half their lives in an Indonesian prison. They are the five remaining members of the infamous ‘Bali Nine’. The group’s two leaders received the death penalty and were executed in 2015. The only woman was released in 2018, while another died of cancer while in captivity.
Ambassador withdrawn
The execution of the two men seen as leaders of the group caused major diplomatic tensions between Indonesia and Australia at the time. Then Prime Minister Abbott demanded that President Joko Widodo, who had just taken office, release the convicted drug criminals, but his aggressive attitude had the opposite effect. In protest, Australia withdrew the ambassador. Only five weeks later he was back in his place in Jakarta, because the relationship between Australia and Indonesia is of great importance. The countries are important trade and strategic partners. They recently signed a major defense pact.
Albanese has been praised domestically for his diplomatic gifts that are said to have led to the release of the remaining members of the ‘Bali Nine’. He can make good use of this success in the run-up to federal elections next year. Previously, thanks to his persistent lobbying, the Australian-Chinese journalist Cheng Lei and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange were released. Even then, Albanese did not wait for them at the airport, so as not to offend his colleagues.
Prabowo’s image
But the deal says a lot about the new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who appears to be taking a new diplomatic course. This can be seen from the fact that he visited 21 countries between his election and installation as president. His predecessor Jokowi visited only a handful of other countries during his two terms as president. While his predecessor Widodo was not sensitive to pressure from Australia, Subianto released the remaining ‘Bali Nine’ members within two months of taking office. And it doesn’t stop there, a Philippine woman convicted of drug smuggling will also be put on a plane to her home country, probably on Tuesday. Negotiations are ongoing with France about a French detainee.
According to political commentator Laura Hood of online platform The Conversation Prabowo tries to present a friendly face internationally in the hope that his dark past in the Indonesian army will be forgotten. In the 1980s, he led several attacks in East Timor in which hundreds of civilians were tortured and raped. In the 1990s, according to human rights organizations, he was involved in civilian deaths as army leader in West Papoa. Prabowo’s precise share in this has never been known. He was also suspected of involvement in the kidnapping and torture of at least 23 anti-Suharto activists between 1996 and 1998. Thirteen of the kidnapped activists never reappeared.
Prisons overcrowded
Prabowo is working with the transmission of this high profile prisoners not only to his diplomatic relations but also to a domestic problem. The prisons in Indonesia are overcrowded, partly due to the heavy punishment of even lighter drug crimes, resulting in unrest, arson and escapes. On Saturday it was announced that he will pardon as many as 44,000 prisoners. In total, this will release about 30 percent of the total number of prisoners. Their release is widely seen as an emergency measure to decongest prisons.
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The prisoners who are pardoned have been convicted of, among other things, defamation or hate speech. The group also includes many drug offenders. Most striking is the release of eighteen activists from Papua. Papua came under Indonesian rule in 1969 after a controversial referendum supported by the UN. A large part of the population still strives for independence, but the Indonesian government has never intended to give it to them. Justice Minister Andi described their pardon at the announcement as “part of the attempt to achieve reconciliation” with the residents of West Papua. But how complete their release will be is uncertain, as Prabowo has proposed that those who are pardoned and “are still in a productive age” will be involved in “the production of food” or “participate in the military reserve,” according to Andi to Indonesian media.