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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/06/nothing-is-made-new-my-poem-and-plea-that-clemency-be-granted-to-sukumaran-and-chan Dear President Joko Widodo, I am the Australian poet, writer and academic, John Kinsella. I spent a couple of months travelling through Indonesia when I was young, my mother speaks Indonesian, and I have long been interested in Indonesian poetry, theatre, music and fiction. I write this letter out of respect for the cultures of Indonesia, and for your role as president of the Indonesian people. I am writing to ask for clemency for the prisoners Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan. I am writing a poem as part of my plea, and I hope it will be read and heard. Personally, I do not believe in the death penalty under any circumstances and I plead for all those on death row. I plead with you to halt the executions. And in the case of the two Australians mentioned here, I think even within the context of the Indonesian justice system and the “hardline” position you are personally taking on crimes of this nature, the condemned have demonstrated a desire to assist others in the reformation of their characters and to accept their own wrongdoing. Their souls exist in this living world to act as a guide to others to improve themselves and not take wrong paths. To execute them would be to deny the lessons they can pass on to others both inside the prison and outside. To kill them only shows finality and loss, and that death dictates life. I beg you to consider the strength of offering life to the condemned, so they can show others how much to value life. Clemency is a gift of the spirit, and I feel that for a leader to show clemency is a sign of strength and compassion that reflects on his people and is reflected by the people back at him. Youth register these things, and rather than shocking them into fear by killing/execution, which only fills their heads with thoughts of death, by showing clemency you show that even the condemned can bring positives to the world. Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were wrong and committed crimes — they know they were wrong, but please let their lives be granted to them so they can show the world their gratitude for having life and how much it is worth. This will lead others to question their own actions, and that is the most potent way of preventing drug crime. I beg you to hear this plea and thank you for hearing me out. Yours sincerely, Professor John Kinsella Nothing is Made New for those killed by “firing squad” in the name of justice in Indonesia and a plea for clemency for those awaiting this fate Heavy weather over the rainforest heavy weather over plantations and prisons; when I think of Nusakambangan I think of the black egret and mouse deer. Midnight coats the sea with vitriol — glass waves shatter with each crack of the air; when colonial overlords withdrew, the bones of those they’d crushed made walls for the future. Prayers for clemency can’t break free, trapped in the wood of buildings and furniture; midnight ends one day but doesn’t begin another, the living are made to suffer their end in sight. Heavy weather is over the rainforest heavy weather is over plantations and prisons; when I think of Nusakambangan I think of the black egret and mouse deer. John Kinsella has delivered his letter and poem to Indonesian president Joko Widodo.