The Execution of Tibo

On September 22, 2006 Tibo Cs, the convicted Poso killers, were executed in Palu. I just left Palu on September 21, one day before the execution took place. While at that time the situation in Palu remained calm, it was an eerie kind of calmness. The usual hustle bustle of the city was not observed even in the market place; instead people chose to stay at home even before the day was over. Of course it was raining, which rather unusual itself because it had been months since the last rain fell in Palu. The police and the army were everywhere, but somehow I don’t know whether their omni presence should make me feel secure or worry.

Anyway, I’m not going to talk about the situation in Palu. What concern me is the heated debate on whether the execution should be carried out, cancelled all together or delayed. It is too late now I know because at the time I wrote this Tibo Cs have been executed. But the point still linger, was it right to execute Tibo Cs?

I observed 2 major arguments against the execution:

(1) The law process which lead to the ruling is questionable: Tibo Cs were just the henchmen; the ring leaders are still free out there. And With regards to the notorious track record of the Indonesian court of law, it is believed that the ruling was a result of a power play behind it.

(2) Death penalty is against human right; human has no right to kill another human being for whatever reason.

The first argument is a classic one. In each major case like this a conspiracy theory has never failed to loom behind. This is because it concerns a delicate subject in Indonesia: the anxious relation between the Christian minority and the dominant Muslim population. Let's look at them one by one.

Why the process lead to the ruling and the execution was considerably swift compared with those for Amrozy Cs?

In fact, the process has been anything but swift. In my opinion, it was processed at usual speed. Tibo Cs were captured in 2000, gone through multiple trials, asked twice for the president’s pardon etc. until the end at 2006. In comparison, Amrozy Cs were first tried in 2002 shortly after the bombing and still in the death row waiting for the final decision from MA. I can even understand if they speed up the process, due to the huge attention paid to the case, and the bloody footsteps it left behind.

Then why the true ring leaders are not sentenced, or even captured? There must be a big conspiracy behind it all.

This argument emerged because Tibo Cs were just low educated poor farmers. It doesn’t make sense they could plan and organize a large, systematic mass murder like that. I cannot disagree with this argument. I, too, really think that the masterminds are still out there, and it is right to demand a more serious and thorough investigation to get to the bottom of this. Anyhow, it doesn’t make Tibo Cs less guilty. It was proven before the court of law that their hands were bloody.

In any case, it only justifies the decision to delay the execution, so they could really point out the masterminds. To do this however, Tibo Cs had to plead guilty to show that they just followed orders, am I correct? Maybe it would result with something lighter than death penalty. But in fact, they maintained their innocence until the end, as can be read in this statement from their lawyers. (Tibo did mention some names to the police back in 2001 by the way, make it highly susceptible if he was not involved at all).

The Indonesian court of law is an inept, corrupt institution, thus the sentence can not be justified because it’s a result of a flawed process.

Looking back at several courts’ decisions in the recent past, I can’t say I’m happy with that as well. But we should not undermine the good work of the police which was used to build the case against Tibo Cs. They’re no angels I know, but the police have shown they can do a decent job while working on cases like Bali Bombing 1 and 2, Marriot Bombing and other cases of terrorism. They’re under a lot of pressure and too many people watching while they were working for a major case like this. Hence, I believe it is considerably safe to assume that no hanky panky took place while they built the case against Tibo Cs.

As far as I remember from past cases, we were suspicious when the evidences were there but the verdicts were not as “heavy”, or the other way around. The “Justice Matrix” might look like this:

(1) If:

Evidence (our perception of police work)
(-) Weak
(+) Strong

Result (verdicts from the court of law)
(-) Light sentence
(+) Heavy sentence

(2) Then:

Evidence + Result = Our “Feeling of Justice”

(-) + (-) = “It’s a fair trial” example: Tempo vs. Tomy Winata
(+) + (-) = “The judges took a bribe!” example: Buloggate
(-) + (+) = “The judges tweak it” example: Tempo 1996
(+) + (+) = “They deserve it” example: Amrozy Cs.

Mind you, this is not scientific but I believe it’s a good approach to show our feeling of justice. From this matrix, we can see Tibo case can only fall into the 3rd or 4th category. And in this case I strongly believe that the investigation has been done in a decent manner, thus “they deserve it”. I also heard that several Muslims involved in the similar mass murder in Poso were sentenced with lighter verdicts. It should fall under second category.

Lastly, the “Let the one among you who is without sin ...” argument. Well this can go as long as you want like in this site . For me it’s sufficient to say: it’s the law. You can have your point of view against the death sentence. But I think it’s only right if you take it as a matter of principle and not view it in partial, case-by-case situation. I mean, if you oppose the execution of Tibo Cs because you don’t agree with the death sentence per se, you should have similar view against the death sentence for Amrozy Cs, those African drug dealers, etc. Personally, I loath it if Amrozy Cs got less than death sentence. Don’t care if it can also make them damn martyrs. May their souls burn in hell…

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