Indonesian workers face execution in Malaysia

Hundreds of Indonesian workers are facing execution or death sentences in neighbouring Malaysia, but their government's efforts to save them have been hampered by its own stance on drug offences.

Erman Suparno, Manpower and Transportation Minister, said his government had provided legal assistance to 279 workers either on death row or facing possible capital charges, according to a report in The Jakarta Post on 26 May.

He said 95 per cent were convicted, on trial or under police investigation for illegal possession of drugs thought to be from their home villages in Aceh.

But he said there were limits on what Indonesia could do to help.

"The government cannot interfere in the Malaysian judicial system because both countries impose harsh sanctions on such criminal acts," Erman Suparno said.

In recent years Indonesia has handed down increasing numbers of death sentences for drug offences, and President Yudhoyono reportedly said he would not grant clemency in a capital case involving drugs.

Erman Suparno said several Acehnese sentenced to death on drug charged were awaiting execution following rejection of their appeals by Malaysia's High Court.

He said the Indonesian Government had acted to protect the workers' rights, and recruit Malaysian lawyers to represent them during police investigations and in court.

Several Indonesian migrant workers were also on death row in Saudi Arabia in connection with alleged murders at their workplaces.