It had a big impact on Indonesia the comment of a respected commentator on the diplomatic confrontation that opposes that country to theAustralia. There are several Australians - drug traffickers - awaiting capital punishment in a prison in Bali. And the Australian government, which condemns the death penalty, has exerted the strongest diplomatic pressure for them to be pardoned. But Indonesian President Jokowi has refused any act of clemency.
Now, Pierre Marthinus, in an editorial in the Jakarta Post, condemns the 'double standards' of the Australian government. It is true, the death penalty does not exist in Australia, but what is the treatment that Australia reserves for illegal immigrants, who are captured and confined for years on some Pacific island, with risks – even lethal – for physical and mental health. Or that they are deported to their country of origin, from where in some cases they had fled because they were opponents of the regime and who, upon return, risk prison or worse?
The Australian media, Marthinus says, has engaged in a surreal form of hypocrisy, condemning the death penalty only when Australians are involved.
