'Man cannot live by idealism alone'<\/p>\n
By Ida Indawati Khouw<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Lawyer Luhut M.P. Pangaribuan thought that 16
\nyears was enough time to \"devote\" his life to serving the poor
\nand needy through legal aid work, and that now was the time to
\nthink about his financial life.<\/p>\n
\"Now is the time to think about me. If I don't, who'll think
\nabout me? No one will,\" said the human rights campaigner who is
\nalso a father of three.<\/p>\n
\"I don't think I'm being selfish, it's because I have a
\nresponsibility toward my family,\" he said of his recent decision
\nto leave the nonprofit Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, which he
\nchaired for four years, and establish his own law firm, Luhut
\nPangaribuan & Associates.<\/p>\n
From his new office on the 20th floor of a skyscraper in the
\nbusiness district of Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta, Luhut
\naffirmed a common perception that working at non-governmental
\norganizations does not provide financial security.<\/p>\n
Luhut was replaced last month by Apong Herlina as chair of the
\nJakarta Legal Aid Institute.<\/p>\n
\"It's a fact that NGOs cannot support us, our salary is
\n'limited',\" he told The Jakarta Post recently.<\/p>\n
He said that as the institute's director with a family to
\nsupport, his monthly salary of Rp 900,000 (US$340) was far from
\nenough.<\/p>\n
\"Can you imagine supporting a family with that much?\" he
\nquipped, referring to his high monthly expenses.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, his lawyer wife Rosa Agustina Suparno shared the
\nfinancial burden of supporting the family so that Luhut needed
\nonly to provide several hundred thousand rupiah toward his
\nchildren's education every month.<\/p>\n
Luhut and his wife do not own a house of their own. Ever since
\nthey got married in 1983, the couple has lived with Rosa's
\nparents in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Luhut began his career even before he graduated from
\nUniversity of Indonesia's Law School. He was still a student when
\nhe joined the Association of Indonesian Advocates and became its
\nparalegal from 1979 to 1981.<\/p>\n
He graduated in 1981 and immediately joined the Jakarta Legal
\nAid Institute as one of its lawyers. In 1987, Luhut became
\nsecretary for the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid
\nInstitute and held the post for five years.<\/p>\n
In 1993, Luhut was elected director of the Jakarta Legal Aid
\nInstitute, one year after he obtained his Master's degree at the
\nUniversity of Nottingham in Britain.<\/p>\n
Luhut described his tenure at the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute
\nas the time when the organization had to deal with many political
\ncases which often pit them with those in power.<\/p>\n
For instance, it was Luhut and his associates at the legal aid
\ninstitute that became defense lawyers for activists of the
\nunrecognized Democratic People's Party (PRD) when they stood
\ntrial for involvement in riots that hit Central Jakarta in July
\nlast year.<\/p>\n
The case was highly publicized and the activists were recently
\nsentenced to between 18 months and 13 years' imprisonment for
\nsubversive activities by the Central and South Jakarta district
\ncourts.<\/p>\n
Luhut was also a defense lawyer for legislator Aberson Marle
\nSihaloho when he stood trial for defaming President Soeharto
\nduring a free speech forum last year. Aberson was recently
\nsentenced to 18 months' imprisonment by the Central Jakarta
\nDistrict Court. He is appealing.<\/p>\n
Through the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, Luhut also initiated
\nIndonesia's first class action lawsuit against state-owned
\nelectricity company PLN because of an eight-hour power blackout
\nthat hit Java and Bali in April.<\/p>\n
The party that filed the lawsuit was the Indonesian Consumers
\nFoundation on behalf of what it claimed as over one million
\nconsumers. The South Jakarta District Court is in the process of
\nhearing the case.<\/p>\n
\"I can say that during my work at the Jakarta Legal Aid
\nInstitute, I handled cases that involved just about everyone,
\nfrom common people to professors, from corporals to generals,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Luhut said he realized that his new activities were vastly
\ndifferent from those when he was still an NGO activist.<\/p>\n
\"Sometimes I feel like a stranger,\" he said of his entrance
\ninto the business world. \"Sometimes I am caught by surprise at
\nhow illegal practices, such as bribery, are often 'legalized'.\"<\/p>\n
Now that he is involved in a world which is far different from
\nhis former \"idealistic\" environs, how does Luhut cope with the
\nsituation?<\/p>\n
\"I'm here now, I know those (illegal business practices) are
\nwrong,\" he said. \"I don't think I can just say no, no, no. That
\nwon't solve problems.\"<\/p>\n
He then said he coped by seeking situations which could still
\nbe morally justified.<\/p>\n
Luhut said because his law firm was still new, he had yet to
\ndecide which legal field to specialize in. He conceded, however,
\nthat what was different now was that his clients came from the
\nbusiness sector.<\/p>\n
\"Of course my approach will be different,\" he said.<\/p>\n
This does not mean that Luhut has foregone his interest in
\npolitical cases. He expressed hope that he would someday be able
\nto return to his previous activities.<\/p>\n
\"Maybe after I've earned enough money from my new job...
\nmaybe in ten years' time,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/man-cannot-live-by-idealism-alone-1447893297",
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