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
Posts
