Indonesian President still won't respond to Tony Abbott

INDONESIA'S president is continuing to snub Prime Minister Tony Abbott while standing by his decision to execute two Australian drug smugglers.

Mr Abbott yesterday said Joko Widodo had not responded to his request last week to discuss the state-sanctioned killings of Bali Nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran

Chan and Sukumaran are waiting execution in the notorious Nusakambangan prison.

Their deaths were delayed late last week as the pair challenged an administrative court ruling regarding the president's clemency appeal process.

The case is expected to return to court this week.

The Federal Government continues to lobby Mr Widodo to save the men who were sentenced to death in 2006.

Mr Abbott said he did not expect the pair to be freed but the execution plan was "deplorable".

"No one should be let off scot free but while we deplore drug crime we also deplore the drug penalty," Mr Abbott told reporters.

"We are continuing to work with the Indonesian government to try and get them to appreciate it is in their best values to not go ahead with these executions."

Meanwhile, Mr Widodo said his country's drug problem was so rampant that 4.5 million Indonesians needed rehabilitation as a result.

"About 4.5 million people need to be rehabilitated because of the drugs," Mr Widodo told Al Jazeera on the weekend.

"Please do not only see the traffickers but also the impact of the drugs trafficking.

"People must see this from both side, not only from one side."

Michael O'Connell, who is part of the legal team trying to save Chan and Sukumaran, said the delay offered some hope for his clients.

"Up until now, really, his position had been that clemency had been refused and so, therefore, Andrew and Myuran should be executed and they weren't really paying any regard to the other legal avenues that we had been pursuing," Mr O'Connell told the ABC.

- APN NEWSDESK