REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The execution of convicts charged in serious drug offenses was not an issue open for negotiation but rather a law enforcement issue, Indonesia's foreign affairs ministry stated here on Thursday (12/3).
"This is not an issue open for negotiation. This is a law enforcement issue. Negotiating a law is a violation. So, there will be no negotiation," the ministry spokesman, Arrmanatha Nasir, remarked.
He made the statement in response to Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's offer to pay for the cost of life imprisonment for the two Australian drug traffickers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in exchange for the cancellation of their execution.
Bishop had earlier also offered a prisoner swap in an effort to save the two Australians from the firing squad.
The Australian government had offered to exchange three Indonesian prisoners now serving term in an Australian jail for the two Australian prisoners.
Indonesia had declined the offer saying that the Indonesian system does not recognize a prisoner swap.
After her offer was rejected, Minister Bishop wrote to Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi stating that she was ready to pay for the cost of life imprisonment for the two Australians in exchange for the cancellation of their execution.
She had even disclosed the offer to the Australian media, a move that was deeply regretted by the Indonesian government.
Nasir noted that official communications between governments are to be kept confidential based on diplomatic ethics and bilateral relations' standards.
"In view of that, Indonesia has never exposed contents of letters or communications between the two countries. We deplore a government that has conducted media diplomacy," he stated.
He remarked that the Indonesian foreign minister has responded to all discussions relating to the implementation of death penalty that have been conveyed by the Australian foreign minister.
He stated that Indonesia has responded well to all communications made by phone and letters carried out by the Australian government.
"Indonesia considers the communications between the two countries' heads of government as diplomacy behind closed doors. Indonesia will never reveal them to the media," he emphasized.
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