By Natassia Chrysanthos and Karuni Rompies
Indonesia’s justice minister says the fate of the five remaining members of the Bali Nine drug smuggling syndicate will be in Australia’s hands if they are transferred home, but they will never be allowed to set foot in Indonesia again.
Yusril Ihza Mahendra told a local press conference on Thursday that he hoped for a deal by the end of the year and he expected Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to continue negotiations on behalf of the government when he visited Indonesia next week.
The Indonesian government would not pardon the men, but Australia could grant them freedom within a week of their arrival home if it wanted, he said.
Previous Australian governments had raised the fate of the Bali Nine over the years.Credit: Composite: Nathan Perri
“If Australia wants to give remission or pardon, it is entirely up to the Australian government,” the minister said. “We will respect it. If transferred and they are in prison then a week later the government release them, we will respect it.”
Yusril’s comments suggest a deal that returns the five prisoners to Australia by the end of the year is possible, despite fears a media storm would derail the sensitive discussions after news broke of the negotiations last week.
Australians Matthew Norman, Michael Czugaj, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens and Si Yi Chen are serving life sentences in prisons in Bali and Java after being arrested, along with four others, in 2005 for trying to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin out of Indonesia.
The so-called ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed in 2015 and Renae Lawrence was released in 2018. Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died from cancer in 2018.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese asked Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to approve the transfer of the remaining five during a meeting at a summit in Peru last week, after raising the issue with him in a phone call weeks earlier and at a dinner in Canberra in August.
Australian ministers have been tight-lipped about the details because the decisions are up to the Indonesian government. They are worried Indonesian authorities may be offended if the Australian side seems to assume the outcome.
Yusril on Thursday said he hoped the men could be transferred home by the end of December and that Burke would be coming to Indonesia next week to negotiate their release. A spokesperson for Burke denied that was the purpose of his visit.
“This visit was already arranged for talks on people smuggling, cybersecurity and counter-terrorism,” the spokesperson said. “Of course, other topics of mutual interest may be discussed.”
Outlining the conditions for a prisoner transfer, Yusril said the Australian government would have to make a request to the Indonesian government and respect the Indonesian court’s decision. If successful, the men would be banned from entering Indonesia again, he said.
Yusril said it was up to the Australian government to decide whether to grant the five men amnesty once they arrived home, but Indonesia would not be giving them a pardon. He said no Indonesian president since Suharto, who resigned in 1998, had pardoned people convicted of drug smuggling.
Government minister Don Farrell on Sunday said he expected the men to continue serving their sentences in Australia.
“The proposal isn’t, as I understand it, to release these people. They would continue to serve their sentences, in Australia,” he said.
Coalition spokeswoman Michaelia Cash has questioned the deal and whether it should be a priority for the Albanese government, as she demanded Labor give more details.
“The Australian people, despite all the news reports, are in the dark,” she said on Sunday.
“Let’s be clear, in the first instance: these individuals, Australians, were part of a heroin smuggling ring to bring back into Australia in excess of eight kilograms of heroin.
“Drug offences are some of the worst offences our society sees.”
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