COMMENT | I had only met a few inmates in prison, but when I saw Ibu Asih, she was witty and hopeful. I can only imagine the pain she had gone through in prison when she pleaded with us to help get her out of prison, as though we wield such powers.

Over the past decade, Asih spent her time behind bars with no family contact for eight years. She was subject to abuse, struck by illness - including surviving cancer - and yet at times, all that we could offer to say was “Sabar ya bu, kami usahakan (Be patient, Bu, we are working on it).”

It crushed me to know that there isn't much that we can do. She has exhausted her legal avenues; there weren’t many ways to review her case. 

The clemency process is opaque, and having assisted her with submitting her clemency application, all we could do was wait...