And Death Becomes Intimate
Scores of condemned men currently await their fate on Indonesias death row. Some spend their remaining days growing vegetables and selling them. Others dream of marrying. Death, in whatever form, is not easy to confront. A number of prison inmates have actually dieddue to illness or other causeswhile waiting to face the firing squad. And death becomes ever so intimate, says poet Subagio Sastrowardoyo. To these condemned men, the angel of death is their close companion.
December 2, 2003
THE emaciated man weakly grasped the hand of TEMPOs journalist. Please help me to be with my family, he begged, softly. Jurit bin Abdullah, sentenced to death for a murder in Sekayu, South Sumatra, felt his days were numbered.
From block IV, cell 36 inside Pakjo penitentiary in Palembang, Jurits voice can often be heard reciting the Quran at dawn. His recitation is far from perfect, having only recently learned how from Amin, a prison employee. Us
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