A casket carrying the body of Ang Kiem Soei, a Dutch national executed by firing squad on Jan. 18, seen in an ambulance on the prison island of Nusakambangan, off Central Java. (EPA Photo/Bayu Nur) |
Jakarta. As
the Australia-Indonesia diplomatic rift over the pending executions of two drug
convicts shows no signs of abating, ties with the Netherlands — which recalled
its ambassador after one of its nationals was executed in January — seem to be
on the mend.
On Tuesday,
Indonesia and the Netherlands jointly organized a discussion on harm reduction
on the sidelines of the 58th Commission on Narcotic Drugs session, at the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna.
At the
discussion, three experts, including Edo Agustian from the Indonesian Network
of Drug Victims (PKNI), discussed ways to limit the spread of HIV as a
consequence of drug use, a statement on the Indonesian Foreign Affairs
Ministry’s website said.
According
to Edo, the Indonesian law enforcement system — with a primary focus on
punishment instead of rehabilitation — has not been conducive in bringing down
the number of infections.
Ambassador
Rob Swartbol was called back to the Netherlands for consultations after the
execution of Dutch national Ang Kiem Soei, on Jan.18. In a letter to the Dutch
parliament, Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said in early February that Swartbol
had returned to Jakarta.
Koenders
explained that the Netherlands opposes the death penalty in principle and that
one of its government’s goals is to try and get Indonesia to abolish the
punishment. The minister added, however, that it was important to be
represented in Indonesia at the ambassadorial level.
“I would
like to investigate the possibilities to cooperate with Indonesia to fight
drug-related problems,” Koenders said in the letter.
The
Indonesian Foreign Ministry, in the statement posted on its website on
Wednesday, said: “The cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands in
handling drugs is not affected by the difference of opinion over the death
penalty.”
According
to data from the Indonesian Health Ministry, the number of people living with
HIV and AIDS as a consequence of drug use grew from 186,000 in 2009 to 640,000
in 2013.
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