An Open Letter to Indonesian President Joko Widodo: “Life Sentence Instead of Death”

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Photo source: Wikipedia Creative Commons)

Your Excellency President Joko Widodo DK:

Some readers of my newspaper columns have emailed me asking my opinions about the fate of overseas Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso. I respectfully request for your compassion for Mary Jane Veloso, who seems guilty of violating your anti-drugs laws but who is also perceived by many of us here in the Philippines as also a victim of unscrupulous criminal syndicates.

As I am not in a position to know the correctness of her conviction, I will not appeal her pardon or release. Rather, I plead your commutation of the death penalty imposed on her to any other penalty. If life sentence is the equivalent penalty under Indonesian law, I request that your government sentence her to life imprisonment.

Mr. President, sentencing her to life imprisonment will do more good than harm, yet it will not compromise your sense of justice or the integrity of your legal system. It will show your compassion. It will display in full your statesmanship and unity with calls by ASEAN and United Nation leaders not to execute Mary Jane.

While serving her life imprisonment sentence, Mary Jane can also tell the world of your government’s steadfast campaign against illegal drugs and human trafficking. Death will prevent her from telling her story to warn others about the menace of illegal drugs and human trafficking and her death will cause so much grief throughout the Philippines and other parts of the world.

WIlson Lee Flores. Columnist

I hope that Your Excellency will consider my suggestion and request for life imprisonment, instead of the death penalty for Mary Jane Veloso. Thank you very much.

Very truly yours,
Wilson Lee Flores
The Philippines
Twitter: @WilsonLeeFlores
Facebook Page: Wilson Lee Flores