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The five Bali Nine members remaining in prison have received the greatest assurance yet from Indonesian officials that they’ll be heading back to Australia, possibly as soon as this month.
Indonesian coordinating minister for law, human rights and corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke stood side-by-side this evening to reveal a draft proposal had been delivered to Australian diplomats to repatriate the convicted drug smugglers.
Burke described their meeting and the text as a “significant step” while Yusril said he hoped the issue could be “finalised” by the end of the year.
“We worked through the different issues of each of our legal systems that we would have to work through there and work through in a very constructive way,” Burke said.
“I have full respect for the Indonesian legal system, and approach the conversations with a great deal of respect and a great deal of humility.
“The good will from Indonesia to Australia in those conversations was absolutely clear, and I thank the coordinating minister for that.”
The Indonesian government was awaiting Australia’s response to key points related to the transfer arrangements, including provisions requiring Australia to acknowledge Indonesia’s sovereignty, respect the rulings of Indonesian courts and ensure that the five maintain their prisoner status after returning home, Yusril said.
“I hope that we can find an understanding on that, agreed on the draft. And we hope that we can finalise these matters in December,” the minister said.
He said Indonesia was not seeking anything from Australia in return for the release of Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush and Martin Stephens.
“It is purely good intention and discretion taken by President Prabowo Subianto,” he said.
But both ministers said there were still some issues to be resolved, most notably the lack of a legal framework in either country for such a transfer.
Yusril wasn’t willing to give the five men an ironclad guarantee they would be going home but said he wanted to come to a final agreement and implement it “as soon as possible”.
Burke also wouldn’t commit to a timeline without having gone through the proposal in detail.
“The proposal was handed to us during the meeting today,” he said.
“The fact that that was handed to us is a significant step forward and shows significant goodwill. We now need to work through the issues within each country, and we’ll be doing that without delay.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last month appealed to Indonesia’s new president, Prabowo Subianto, to allow their repatriation.
Two convicted ringleaders of the Bali Nine, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed by a firing squad in 2015, causing a diplomatic furore. Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died from cancer in prison in May.
The nine were arrested in an attempt to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin from Indonesia’s resort island of Bali to Australia in 2005.The five are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Renae Lawrence, the only woman in the group, was released and returned to Australia in 2018.
Of the five, Si Yi Chen and Matthew Norman are held in Bali’s Kerobokan Prison, while the others have been transferred to facilities elsewhere.
For years, they have sought clemency ahead of Indonesia’s Independence Day. Each request has gone unanswered, underscoring the country’s hard line stance on drug offences.
Last month, Indonesia agreed to repatriate to the Philippines a death-row drug convict who was nearly executed by firing squad but got a reprieve due to years of pleadings from Manila.
– Reported with Associated Press.
