This was published 9 years ago
Bali nine executions: Former Indonesian prisoner prays for Chan and Sukumaran ahead of appeal
By Jewel Topsfield and Amilia Rosa
Boxer Klement Tameno was jailed for more than four years under Indonesia's strict drug laws after he was caught with three joints.
At first his life in Bali's Kerobokan jail felt purposeless and "abstract". Bali nine organiser Myuran Sukumaran, whom he met playing sport, persuaded Klement to come along to an art class.
Klement Tameno, left, and Tina Bailey, who teaches art and dance in Kerobokan prison.Credit: Allan Putra
"I was never interested before in art, my neighbour was a painter but I was never in to it," Klement says.
"But then I thought: 'I want to do better; I want to do something in life'. So I joined his art class. At first I wasn't in to it much, but then, it gave me something to do, a purpose, it helped me to stay focused."
At first Klement exclusively painted boxers and Muhammad Ali. "I could tell he had ability," says Tina Bailey, who teaches art and dance in Kerobokan prison. "He has now found his niche in painting wildlife, which is not easy to do."
Klement was released from prison in December. He is back in training as a boxer and continues to paint in his spare time. "I have a clear path of what I want to do with my life."
Klement's painting of a lion was due to be auctioned at an exhibition at Hard Rock Hotel in Kuta last Friday night.
Prison authorities cancelled the auction, which was to have raised money for the prison's rehabilitation projects, at the eleventh hour, amid fears it had become too politicised given Sukumaran is facing execution.
"I don't understand why it was cancelled, why? It was a good activity, positive. One of my paintings was supposed to be on display," Klement says.
He says Sukumaran and fellow Bali nine organiser Andrew Chan, who helped guide him at church every Sunday, are good people.
"They are great, they have the strength to do good. I wish they will not get executed, I wish for them to be pardoned, I pray for it to happen."
Chan and Sukumaran will on Thursday learn if their appeal to the administrative court in Jakarta is successful.
Lawyers for the pair claim President Joko Widodo should have considered their clemency pleas on an individual basis and taken into account their rehabilitation. Instead, they say, he issued a blanket refusal of mercy to all 64 drug felons on death row.
The administrative court said last month it did not have jurisdiction over a presidential decree. However the lawyers are appealing this ruling.
Meanwhile Attorney-General H.M. Prasetyo has denied reports the executions are being delayed because of the Asian-African conference to be held in Bandung from April 19 to 24.
Three of the men slated to be killed with Chan and Sukumaran are from Nigeria and one is from Ghana.
"The executions will go ahead. They are not cancelled, or delayed," Mr Prasetyo said in Kompas.com on Wednesday.
He said his office was continuing to make preparations for the executions.
Cabinet secretary Andi Widjajanto said arguments for and against capital punishment were often discussed in cabinet meetings led by President Joko Widodo. But he reaffirmed the government would not change its position on the issue particularly when it related to drug kingpins and dealers.
The head of the central Java corrections, Ahmad Yuspahruddin, said he still didn't know the date of the executions. For now, Chan and Sukumaran were being kept isolated from other prisoners. "If it's still months away, the prison governor will decide whether to keep them in observation or move them to the rest of the prison area," he said.
Meanwhile organisers of the exhibition of prisoners' paintings are open to it being rescheduled at a later date.
"This has always been a sober event based on academic principles," said Norwegian educator Oivind Zahlsen. "We don't want any tension around this. We don't want to contribute with any noise that could be destructive in any way."