REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, LONDON -- A group of Indonesians residing in London donated 20 kilograms of coins packed in a luggage to the Australian High Commissioner on Tuesday, March 4, as part of the "Coins for Australia" campaign. The campaign was organized in response to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's recent statement linking his country's funds for assisting the tsunami victims in Aceh in 2004 with the case of the two convicted drug smugglers due to be executed.
Caya Fairrie and Irma Lengkong Mikkonen, the initiators of the "Coins for Australia" program, informed that they were encouraged by media reports about the massive coin collection campaigns in Indonesia and decided to conduct the same activity here. The coins, packed in the luggage, were donated in a campaign activity held for a week by Indonesians living in various cities in the United Kingdom such as Hertford, Cambridge, Nottingham, York, and Bedfordshire.
"When we handed over the luggage, we were well received by David Lawrence and Fred Lewis from the Australian High Commission," Fairrie, who was accompanied by Irma Lengkong Mikkonen and Dande Dibiarma Darmawan, said.
Myuran Sukumaran (33) and Andrew Chan (31) are among the 11 prisoners on death row who will soon be executed on the island of Nusakambangan, Central Java Province.
The two Australian ringleaders of a drug trafficking group called "Bali Nine" had been flown out of Bali Island on Wednesday to the Nusakambangan Prison.
In response to Indonesia's firm decision to go ahead with the Bali Nine members' executions, Canberra has threatened Jakarta, as indicated in Prime Minister Tony Abbott's statement. Abbott was quoted as saying by ABC that his government "will find ways to make its displeasure known if the executions are carried out."
The Australian prime minister also emphasized that Indonesia should remember Australia's generosity when a deadly tsunami hit Aceh in 2004. "I would say to the Indonesian people and the Indonesian government: We in Australia are always there to help you, and we hope that you might reciprocate," he was quoted by BBC as recently saying.
Abbott's statement was then responded by Indonesians, including primary school students, in various parts of the archipelago by conducting the "Coins for Australia" and "Coins for Abbott" campaigns. Certain elements in the Australian society also echoed calls for boycotting the Indonesian resort island of Bali's tourism industry if Jakarta proceeded with its plan to execute the two ringleaders of the Bali Nine group.
The two were arrested along with seven other Australians while attempting to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin from Bali to Sydney, Australia, in 2005. President Joko Widodo had recently rejected Sukumaran's clemency petition.
Indonesia had recently executed six drug convicts as part of its efforts to combat drug trafficking in the country. The six convicts were Namaona Denis of Malawi; Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira of Brazil; Daniel Enemuo, alias Diarrassouba Mamadou, of Nigeria; Ang Kiem Soei, alias Kim Ho, alias Ance Tahir, of the Netherlands; Rani Andriani, alias Melisa Aprilia, of Indonesia; and Tran Thi Bich Hanh of Vietnam.
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