A survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) shows that the death sentence handed down by the panel of judges against former Head of the Propam Division of the Indonesian National Police, Ferdy Sambo, in the premeditated murder case of Brigadier Nofriansyah Hutabarat, aligns with public expectations.
The survey notes that the majority (50.9%) of respondents believe Sambo deserves the death penalty for the premeditated murder of his wife's former aide.
"In the survey, we asked what the most appropriate punishment for Ferdy Sambo should be, and the majority stated the death penalty," said LSI Executive Director Djayadi Hanan in a press conference on Wednesday (1/3/2023).
The survey was conducted from February 10-17, 2023, during the same week that Sambo's sentence was handed down.
In addition to the death penalty, the survey also shows that 27.4% of respondents believe Sambo deserves a life sentence or a sentence in accordance with the public prosecutor's demands.
Furthermore, some respondents considered appropriate sentences for Sambo to be 5, 10, and 20 years imprisonment. However, the percentages for each of these were lower, at less than 5%.
This survey also reveals public expectations regarding the appropriate sentences for two other defendants in the Brigadier J murder case, namely Sambo's wife, Putri Candrawathi, and Sambo's former aide, Richard Eliezer.
The results show that 27.1% of respondents believe Putri deserves a life sentence, and another 22% believe an appropriate sentence is 20 years imprisonment, as per the judge's ruling.
On the other hand, public opinion regarding Richard's sentence shows that only 4.6% of respondents agree with the judge's ruling of 1.5 years imprisonment for Richard.
The survey also shows that 26.9% of respondents believe Richard deserves a 5-year prison sentence, and 14.5% believe Richard deserves a 10-year prison sentence.
The survey was conducted on 1,228 respondents using telephone interviews from February 1-17, 2023. The sample was randomly determined using the random digit dialing (RDD) method, with validation and screening.
The margin of error in this survey is estimated to be approximately 2.9% with a 95% confidence level.