I would not have raised this question on a beer site, but since someone else has . . .
Besides whether the death penalty is ever justified, or justified in drug cases, or what rights you surrender in other countries' jurisdiction, there is another issue in the case of the Bali 9 (not just 2 Australians), namely the way Indonesia applies the death penalty. The ABC has just published a very good review of bias against foreigners in Indonesian sentencing:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-27/mcdonald-death-for-outsiders-but-leniency-for-locals/6423682
There was one Indonesian in the Nine, and reportedly he made important enemies back in Sumatra.
On the issue of whether judges offered to take bribes in the Chan/Sukamaran cases, the Indonesian Supreme Court has that under review post-execution, after ruling the outcome had no bearing on whether those two would be executed. Really? That tells you much about their mindset.
Indonesia claims it has a runaway drug problem. Their solution is to to apply more of what obviously hasn't been working, but to apply it mostly to foreigners who presumably are not the ones dealing in the street anyway. This, by the way, from a government that profits from the sale of cigarettes to children as young as two.
For Indonesia to announce the execution on ANZAC Day is bad diplomatic manners at the least. Make no mistake: the timing was deliberate. Widodo is pandering to anti-foreigner sentiments rising in Indonesia.
I have had contrasting perspectives on Indonesia. Teaching in PNG, most of my students expressed fear of Indonesian invasion, and I talked to soldiers who'd fought the Indonesian army along the shared boundary. But I have also spent time in Indonesia, not drinking in Bali, but in Bandung and the Javanese countryside. The hospitality was warm and wonderful.
Despite those good memories, and though I know there are Indonesians working for reform, as things stand I won't go back.
