The Indonesian lawyer for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran says it is time for activists fighting to end the death penalty in the country to engage with the Islamic community about the cause.
Indonesian lawyer Dr Todung Mulya Lubis and Australian barrister Julian McMahon led the long legal fight against the executions of the Bali Nine duo, who were shot by a firing squad on the prison island of Nusakambangan in April last year.
Speaking just over a week after the one-year anniversary of their deaths, Dr Mulya said it was time to start a dialogue with the Islamic community around executions.
"It was taken for granted by those death penalty activists that you cannot converse with them, as they are extremists. But I think it's time for us to do that," he told the ASEAN Literary Festival on Sunday in Jakarta.
When he began campaigning against the death penalty in Indonesia in 1979 he said he was accused of being anti-Islamic and anti-Pancasila (the five moral principles said to make up Indonesian life and society).
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"Every label was put on me ... But I'm pleased to know there are more and more people now talking about the death penalty."
Mr McMahon said while it was common for the 21st century to be described as something belonging to Asia, economic growth and leadership was not enough.
"In that context you have to think of society as a whole, and that includes crime and punishment.
"There is no evidence that shows that executions have any value in terms of being a deterrent," he added.
The comments come after Indonesia's Attorney-General HM Prasetyo flagged that executions in the country were likely to resume this year.
While there has been no announcement as to when this will happen, Security Minister Luhut Panjaitan has said he did not want to see a repeat of the "drama" like what occurred in the lead up to the Australians' executions, during which there was intense foreign media attention and diplomatic pressure on Indonesia, as well as strident international appeals and pleas from family members.
He has said that the law stipulated Indonesia only needed to give three days' notice as to when an execution was going to take place.
