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The most puzzling thing about the Indonesian justice system

Myuran Sukumaran was sentenced to death for drug trafficking.

Myuran Sukumaran was sentenced to death for drug trafficking. Photo: Getty

One year after Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were executed for drug trafficking, Byron Bay woman Sara Connor faces just a maximum 15-year jail term for the alleged murder of a Bali policeman.

Ms Connor, a 45-year-old mother of two, and her British boyfriend David James Taylor, were detained after police revealed the deceased officer was found on Kuta Beach with 42 wounds to his body.

Ms Connor has denied responsibility for the police officer’s death.

She faces a possible charge of manslaughter if prosecutors determine there is a case to answer.

The well-known cases of Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine have created a perception in Australia that Indonesia is tough on crime.

But according to Tim Lindsey, Professor of Asian Law and Director of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society at the Melbourne Law School, said Indonesia’s penalty for manslaughter was closer to Western expectations, but its tough approach to drugs stood out even among its Asian neighbours.

“In Asia there’s been a very gradual trend away from hardline executing, but Indonesia has done the opposite,” he said.

The difference between our two systems

Professor Lindsey said reports Ms Connor and Mr Taylor had been charged with murder were incorrect.

sarah connors bali murder

Sara Connor is currently facing 15 years in Bali. Photo: ABC

“They haven’t been charged. They’ve been declared suspects,” he said, noting that the Indonesian justice system was completely different to Australia’s.

He said the police investigation into the matter could take three months before charges were laid by a prosecutor.

As it stands, Bali police have announced they are considering a charge equivalent to manslaughter, or homicide that is not pre-meditated.

“The police are doing their job and they see this as potentially a drunken brawl on the beach,” Professor Lindsey said, adding that if foreigners killed an Australian police officer, the crime would be taken extremely seriously.

0824penalties

In fact, killing a police officer is one of three crimes that require a mandatory life sentence in Australia, along with aircraft hijacking and killing a public official. In South Australia and Queensland, mandatory life also applies for murder.

For regular manslaughter, however, the maximum penalty is 25 years – or Australia’s highest punishment.

The same goes for commercial drug trafficking, for which some Bali Nine members were handed the death penalty.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in 2015.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in 2015. Photo: Facebook

Professor Lindsey said although Indonesia was not a world leader in using the death penalty (that mantle goes to China, Iran and the US), it has bucked a softening regional trend away from executions.

“Malaysia has softened its stance, Singapore and Thailand have been giving out pardons and Timor doesn’t execute,” he said.

The hardline stance could have something to do with the National Narcotics Bureau’s 2015 claim that two per cent of the population is addicted to ice or heroin.

sarah connor bali murder

In the past year, 93 Australian tourists have died in Bali. Photo: Getty

The Bali Nine’s eight-kilogram haul of heroin would have put them in the top bracket for Australia’s trafficking penalties also, and although he doesn’t agree with the death penalty, Professor Lindsey said their execution was in line the country’s current legislation.

Only five people have received natural life imprisonments in Australia, or prison without hope of ever being released.

These include tourist killer Ivan Milat and serial sex murderer Peter Dupas.

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