Bali Nine: Indonesian executions ‘based on dodgy data’
THE fate of the Bali Nine duo hinges on “questionable and vague” figures being used to justify their execution, academics claim.
President Joko Widodo is refusing to show mercy to death row drug convicts Myuran Sukumaran, Andrew Chan and about 60 other drug offenders in Indonesia, believing their executions will shock the country out of its “drug emergency”.
Mr Joko has been quoting Indonesia’s National Narcotics Board, which he says finds up to 50 citizens die of drug-related deaths each day.
However the figure is actually a projection, based on years-old BNN and University of Indonesia Centre for Health Research studies.
The revelation comes after Chan and Sukumaran wrote a heartbreaking open letter to the Indonesian Government begging for the chance to continue helping the community.
As the president continues to use the outdated numbers to justify executions, concerned academics are raising their concern.
Even the organisation that did the research has admitted it was only intended to give “a general description of what’s going on”.
An analysis by Claudia Stoicescu, PhD candidate at University of Oxford, finds “questionable methods and vague measures”.
Looking at the “50 deaths per day” claim alone, she says the researchers surveyed 2143 people on how many of their friends had died because of drugs in the past year.
The authors then applied the median number of friends who died (three) to their 2008 estimate of drug addicts, arriving at a figure of 14,894.
Divided by 365 days, this amounted to 41 people dying because of drug use every day.
Not only is this inaccurate, says Ms Stoicescu, but it’s unclear what “died because of drugs” even means.
Ferdinand P Siagian, from the University of Indonesia Centre for Health Research, defended the methodology, telling AAP: “We have followed all scientific principles and statistical requirements.”
He said “died because of drugs” was open to the respondent’s interpretation, but usually meant drug overdoses and HIV/AIDS. Mr Siagian acknowledged the limitations of the research, which was conducted in 17 of 33 provinces.
He said it was only ever intended to take a snapshot of drug use.
“I know it might not represent the whole of Indonesia 100 per cent, but at least with the methodology we used, we get the picture,” he said.
“At least it gives a general description of what’s going on. “We could make more a comprehensive survey, but that would cost a lot more. I think it’s quite representative of the bigger picture.”
Ms Stoicescu says policy decisions should be based on solid evidence, and in this case, it’s a matter of life and death.
“No numbers on drug use are strong enough to support punitive policies including executions,” she told AAP.
“At the policy level, punitive drug laws including the death penalty have been proven ineffective in deterring drug trafficking, and have no deterring effect when it comes to drug use.”
http://www.news.com.au/world/asia/b...ed-on-dodgy-data/story-fnh81fz8-1227209862633
