Kerre McIvor: It's a grotesque way to die

The wooden cross against which prisoners are executed on Nusa Kambangan Island in Java. Death is by firing squad. Photo / News Limited

The Bali Nine drug-smuggling ringleaders have had something of a small reprieve. A last-minute legal challenge has delayed the execution of 31-year-old Andrew Chan and 33-year-old Myuran Sukumaran but even so, their life expectancy is still likely to be measured in days rather than years.

President Joko Widodo said he would crack down on drug traffickers when he came into office and he has been true to his word.

Six death row prisoners were executed earlier this year and despite diplomatic ructions - Brazil and the Netherlands recalled their envoys from Indonesia - Widodo was unrepentant. He says 4.5 million Indonesians are addicted to drugs and he needs to send a clear message to traffickers that they'll pay a price.

In the first four months of his presidency, Widodo approved the executions of more death row prisoners than previous Indonesian presidents had in 15 years. And he's willing to sign the death warrants of many more.

The fact that Chan, Sukumaran and their mules were attempting to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia, not into it, matters not a jot to the hardline president.

Smuggling in, smuggling out; male, female; Indonesian nationals or foreigners - the message Widodo is sending to the world is that drug smugglers are scum and they all deserve to die. Schapelle Corby must be thanking her lucky stars she was freed before he came to power.

Widodo says Indonesia's laws are not ambiguous - anyone caught smuggling drugs will be sentenced to death. And surely, even people who have never set foot outside their own country know Indonesia takes a hard line on drugs.

If they weren't aware before they packed their bags for Bali, the information would be sheeted home to them on the plane and in the arrivals area of the airport.

And yet people persist in taking on the authorities - and end up losing. Many caught by Indonesian customs are at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to drug cartels. The kingpins are not being caught.

Instead, the weak, vulnerable, desperate and downright stupid undertake highly risky drug transportation between countries.

Indonesian officials, indeed, law enforcement agencies around the world, don't seem to be able to make a dent in the business of drug trafficking so they resort to picking up the flotsam and jetsam and trumpet their capture as a triumph.

There's no doubt Chan and Sukumaran were the ringleaders in an attempt to smuggle heroin from Indonesia to Australia and the Indonesian courts quite rightly apportioned more blame to the pair than to their seven woeful mules.

The pair were looking to make big money. They wanted fast cars, flash girls and easy money - and saw drugs as their ticket to the high life.

They knew the risks and didn't believe they would get caught. Now they must suffer the consequences.

It's all very well for the Australian Government to wring its hands and bemoan the imminent deaths of its citizens. It was Australian police who tipped off their Indonesian counterparts that Australian citizens would be coming through the airport carrying drugs. So they must accept some responsibility once the executions go ahead.

And Prime Minister Tony Abbott's hamfisted attempts to have the pair repatriated have done more harm than good.

Threatening Indonesia is not, as the Indonesian Foreign Minister said drily, part of the diplomatic language and no one responds well to threats.

So if the last-ditch legal challenge fails, they will face a firing squad. There will be live ammunition in just three of the rifles and none of the shooters will know whose bullets are live.

A target will be placed over the hearts of the prisoners and death should be quick. Although not always. A female prisoner took six minutes to die after the last executions and a commando is on standby to put a bullet through the head of any prisoners who have not been fatally shot.

It's a grotesque punishment, it's barbaric - and it's Indonesian law.

It's unlikely the executions will prevent further trafficking or end drug addiction.

They will shore up Widodo's popularity at home.

He is impervious to the pleas of foreign governments, human rights groups - even Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi wrote to the president asking for clemency.

Anyone who descends into the murky world of drugs knows death is an occupational hazard. And Widodo is making it clear that death is a reality for people who break the law in his country.

What do you think? Letters@hos.co.nz

•Kerre McIvor is on NewstalkZB Monday-Thursday, 8pm-midnight

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