The
mother of Myuran Sukumaran (pictured left), one of the two Australians executed
alongside 7 others for drug related offences in Indonesia on April 28th, has
written an emotional open letter to Indonesian president, Joko Widodo,
describing the pain of losing her child.
In the
letter, she criticized the President for refusing to grant her son and others
clemency despite pleas from everyone. Read the letter after the cut...
Dear Mr
President,
Leader of
Indonesia and father of three children, My name is Raji Sukumaran, and my son,
Myuran Sukumaran, was executed in the early hours of Wednesday 29 April 2015
under your instructions. As I make the preparations to bury my beautiful son, I
thought I would share my feelings with you. I thought I would share how my son
was reformed, was full of life, love and passion, and who so desperately wanted
to live his life in service to help others. I have made this letter open in the
hope that it may help other people or their families, in some way as they sit
and wait for you to order their deaths. I would really like to think that you
would be able to understand, if you don't, then feel free to share this letter
with your wife, who I think would understand, one mother to another.
My son
doesn't want another mother, father, sister or brother to go through what we
went through. For no grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins or friends should
have to deal with what we've had to deal with. I am not sure where you were as
the men you ordered to kill my son, and seven others pulled the trigger but I
am sure you were far away. My son died knowing all his loved ones were close by
waiting in a hotel room to hear the news that he had been executed.
My son
did commit a serious crime but he also apologised to your country and your
people many times. In the last 10 years while you kept him in prison, he chose
to do all within his power to make up for his crime. It wasn?t easy, I am not
sure anyone will ever realise how hard good man in prison, to be a positive
role model for other younger prisoners, Indonesian prisoners.
Myu spent
many years rehabilitating so many prisoners, he hoped that he could help as
many people as possible, to give them a chance to leave prison to go out in the
world a little better than they came inside. Myu helped prisoners who struggled
with drug use and many other issues. My son never asked for his rehabilitation
to be enough to free him from prison, all he asked was that he not be killed.
Was it too much for you to let him live the remainder of his life in prison? I
have heard that many others around you took the time to read and learn of the
works of my son, and of Andrew and of the people they helped.
Many of
whom are now helping other people themselves. I cannot believe that all of his
works could not even get you to even read the paper you were signing. I
remember when you were elected as President of Indonesia, my son was
celebrating. My son told me that 'Our new President is a man of the people, a
person that would support education, rehabilitation and people bettering
themselves' and that you would look into everything he had done in the prison.
I guess he was wrong.
As human
being, I can?t even understand how you could sign a person?s death without
looking into their personal circumstances. If you do not read what you are
signing how can you know whether the life you are taking belongs to someone who
is mentally unwellwheelchair, or young mother with two children, or a father of
two, or a man who has been in your prison for 17 years, or a gospel singer, or
two young boys who made foolish mistakes.
My son
only hoped to live in prison for the remainder of his life so that he could be
able to continue his good work, which has become known around the world. All he
wanted was to be given a chance to do that. I as a mother was punished for 10
years as well for his crime, and I will be punished for the rest of my life now
because you took his lifesend my son home. I just asked you not to order his
death but instead you ignored me and many others. I asked to meet you, to speak
to you but once again you could not even have the courage to face our requests
to communicate with you. I will not have the chance to see him get married,
have children. Mr President, do you think that your punishment towards my son
after he had spent 10 years in gaol reformed and helping others and then
executing him is fair and just? Do you as a leader feel that everyone who faces
justice in Indonesia is treated fairly and equally? Do you believe that
Indonesia has a justice system that doesn?t make mistakes? Do you not hear or
read all the stories about corruption in criminal cases? I think this is
something very important - you have told the thousands and thousands of people
in prisons across your country, that no matter how hard you work, no matter how
much you change your life, no matter what your personal circumstances are - you
will not receive mercy. You ask them to not try, as I have never heard of
anyone in prison around the world doing the works my son has done - it was
still not enough for you to read his clemency application. I hope your wife
would understand what myself and Andrew Chan's mother are going through. I felt
so helpless as I watched my son walk away, healthy and full of life. I watched
as over the last four months you tortured him by making jokes about his life,
making him guess the night he would be taken, openly discussing the way in
which he would die, parading and humiliating our family. We made funeral plans
for our sons while they were still alive.
This was
because we were told you the President had not changed your mind, and that you
had ordered the executions to be carried out, despite the world wide outcry to
let our sons live. I want to ask you to put your family in my situation. Only
days before I saw a video in which you said that you did not want Indonesians
to be killed overseas. I know as I write this letter, the death of our children
will not make any difference to drug trade in Indonesia. I am sure you know
this, and that your reasons for taking these 8 lives had nothing to do with
preventing drugs and everything to do with your politics.
I hope
that your children, your grandchildren, your nephews and nieces never make a
mistake. I also want you to remember when your child falls in love, gets
married, makes plans for the future, that Andrew Chan also fell in love, made
plans for his future and was executed. How would it feel if this was your son?
I was told as my son said his last words, one of the last things he did was say
a prayer for Indonesia. My son sought forgiveness for your country and the men
taking his life, as he knew you did not know what you were doing. This was the
man you ordered to die. I am not sure whether I could ever forgive you, I hope
that I have that much grace and compassion in my heart one day. But I am sure
this pain in my heart will stay with me for the rest of my life, and it hurts
so much.
Think for
a second, one of your children is tied to post, and men are lined up in front
of them and the fear he would have felt, and then your child is shot through
the heart. My son was young and foolish, he did not deserve to suffer like
this. My son will be missed by so many people who love him and so many people
are ?nding it dif?cult to come to terms with what has happened.
As I
finish this letter I pray for the many other men and women whose lives are in
your hands, especially those on death row. I pray that you will have the
courage to look beyond the politics for they too have families who love them
despite their mistakes.
MMN
Raji Sukumaran
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