REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly requested foreign countries to respect laws in Indonesia. Her statement is following President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo decision that will not provide clemency for drug convicts.
"We ask other countries to respect our laws," Laoly said on Wednesday, December 10. Indonesia recognizes death penalty. Constitutional Court (MK) also accepts death sentence as constitutional.
Recently, Jokowi rejected clemency of 64 drug convicts who were sentenced to death despite international protest. Laoly said that the use of narcotics damaged Indonesian young generation. Indonesia has 4 million drug addicts. She predicted the number to increase to 5,6 million in 2015.
Averagely, about 50 percent of prisoners in Indonesia are drug convicts. Also, about 40 people per day are dead due to drugs. "It is not only damaging youth, but also children," she said.