Merry Utami Tale; from Migrant Worker, Drug Case, Until Execution  

TEMPO.CO, Cilacap - Merry Utami, one of the death-row convicts in Indonesia, saw her remaining days with heavy heart. She was convicted to death penalty after allegedly carrying a 1.1 kilogram of heroin in her bag. She was arrested at Soekarno-Hatta Airport. Merry claimed that the bag belonged to her male friend of Nepal origins. Merry had already carried out 15-year prison sentence in Tangerang. Nearing her last day of execution, she was relocated to Nusakambangan, Cilacap, Central Java.

Merry Utami was once an Indonesian Migrant Workers (TKI) who was sent abroad to work. Beforehand, Merry had lived with his older brother at Jalan Veteran, Dusun Notosuman RT 05/RW 05, Singopuran Village, Kartasura, Sukoharjo, Central Java.

Priyono (60), former head of Dusun Notosuman, on Monday stated, "I was once her brother`s house`s neighbour, and i made her an ID card in year 2000." According to him, Merry only stayed there for a year due to a family matter. She already had a family and two children.

Merry Utami had no issues whatsoever during her stay there. She once worked as an Indonesian migrant worker and her husband is a teacher.

"But i just know now that she will face death sentence from the television", Priyono explained.

The green-painted house that belonged to Merry Utami`s brother at Jalan Veteran, Dusun Notosuman, is looking quite vacant now. All of its inhabitants went out to work.

Priyono said that he just knew that Merry Utami got involved in a drug case when policemen came to the house. "I knew it when there was a policeman handing out a letter arrest for Merry involving drugs. The letter, indeed had been sent to his brother at Notosuran," he uttered.

It was suspected that along Merry`s time as a migrant worker, she befriended with a Nepalese who commend a bag of his to her, which turned out to be consisting of drugs. Her story is the same with Mary Jane, a death-row convict from the Philippines. Mary Jane was also being commended by a dealer without her knowing.

Merry Utami`s father, Siswandi, who suffered a stroke since he heard about his daughter`s arrest, once begged to President Joko Widodo to give her clemency. "Merry Jane can get a clemency, why can`t my daughter get one?," told Siswandi to reporters as quoted by Berita Satu news channel.

A number of non-governmental organization activists protested the death sentence for Merry Utami. "She is not a drug dealer, Merry was only a victim who should be under protection from its country," said Muji, one of the orators in front of the Wijaya Pura port, Nusakambangan, on Thursday, July 28, 2016.

DEWI SUCI RAHAYU | ANTARA