The Jakarta Post, September 05, 2006
Youths demand end to death penalty
M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon
The government should abolish capital punishment and accelerate development in
island provinces throughout the country, the 13th Catholic Youth National Congress in
Ambon says.
Delegates at the forum finished their four-day meeting in Ambon on Monday.
They also called for police to question 16 people, who lawyers for three men on death
row say were behind sectarian riots in Poso in 2000.
Youth movement chairman MT Natalis Situmorang said in Ambon on Sunday the
members "strongly object to the use of the death penalty against any person in this
country".
Secretary general Cosmos Refra said the conference was afraid the true perpetrators
of the Poso riots would be revealed only after the death-row convicts had been
executed.
"We renounce the death penalty because God has given life to humans so that they
can live freely, and only God has the right to take (life) back, not fellow humans,"
Refra said.
The congress' rejection of the death penalty was not motivated by political or
sectarian concerns, he said.
"In principle, we reject the use of the death penalty against all people, be they
(Fabianus) Tibo and his friends (NAME THEM) or (the convicted Bali bombers)
Amrozi, (Ali Ghufron) and Imam Samudra as well as others sentenced to death," he
said.
The three Christian men, Fabianus, NAME and Name have are due to be executed
later this year, after being convicted of inciting a riot in Poso in which 198? people,
mostly Muslims, died.
They have protested their innocence, saying 16 other people, including members of
the security forces, were behind the riots.
Regarding the economy, the congress asked President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
and the House of Representatives to immediately accelerate development in seven
outlying island provinces in Indonesia, including the Riau Islands, Bangka Islands and
North and South Maluku provinces.
Recent development initiatives for the areas were endorsed in the Ambon Declaration
on Aug. 10 signed by governors and legislators from the provinces.
The government should support other efforts made by the Inter-Island Province
Cooperation Forum led by Ambon Governor Karel Albert Ralahalu, delegates said.
They also urged the government to revise the 2004 National Resources Law, increase
investment and improve infrastructure in the nation's outlying islands.
Outlying areas needed sufficient funding from the state budget, Situmorang said.
"We only want impartial treatment from the central government."
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