Nurlaila stands firm against injustice<\/p>\n
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The story of David's triumph against Goliath inspires small
\npeople to maintain their courage in facing powerful interests in
\nbattles to defend the truth.<\/p>\n
Nurlaila Haji Muhammad, a former teacher of SMPN 56 junior
\nhigh school in Melawai, South Jakarta, seems to understand well
\nthe moral of that story.<\/p>\n
Even though she realizes that she is just an ordinary citizen
\nand an unemployed widow, she maintains her courage in facing what
\nshe perceives as an unjust decision from the most powerful person
\nin Jakarta, Governor Sutiyoso, who fired her from her position as
\na civil servant.<\/p>\n
The 47-year old has not stood quietly by and willingly
\naccepted the decision. Instead, she has decided to sue the
\ngovernor through the State Administrative Court for issuing the
\ngubernatorial decree that she said disrespectfully dismissed her.<\/p>\n
\"The decree was issued on Dec. 6, 2004 and I received it on
\nDec. 13. But the funny thing was, the decree said that I was
\nfired in February. Such a decree cannot be retroactive, that's
\nwhy I'm suing him,\" she told The Jakarta Post at her modest home
\nin the Blok A area of South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
And that is not all. Nurlaila, who lost her husband in 1999,
\nhas not received the Rp 1.4 million in accrued salary dating back
\nto December 2003. Plus, her rank as a civil servant has been
\ndowngraded from IV-A to III-D.<\/p>\n
She has faced this series of sanctions because she refused to
\nteach after her SMPN 56 was relocated to Jeruk Purut, some 12
\nkilometers from its original location in Melawai.<\/p>\n
Last year, city public order officers locked up the Melawai
\nschool, arguing that it had to be relocated due to a 1998 land-
\nswap deal between the Ministry of National Education and PT
\nDisantara, a company owned by former minister of manpower Abdul
\nLatief.<\/p>\n
Of the 63 teachers who had originally opposed the deal,
\nNurlaila is the only one who still refuses to concede that the
\ntransaction was valid and legal.<\/p>\n
\"There was a divergence of law over the deal. Various
\nministerial decisions said that such deals had to be processed
\nthrough a presidential decree. Meanwhile, Gus Dur, Megawati, and
\nSusilo Bambang Yudhoyono have never issued such a decree.\"<\/p>\n
\"Second, the land was only sold for Rp 2.5 million per square
\nmeter, while the tax valuation of the land was Rp 9.65 million
\nper square meter. This indicates corruption,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Because of this, Nurlaila is determined to keep demanding that
\nthe governor reinstate her rights as a civil servant.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Nurlaila also keeps fighting to have the
\nland-swap deal annulled as well. She is currently awaiting the
\noutcome of a class action suit she filed along with parents of
\nSMPN 56 students against the transaction in the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
\"As long as no final verdict has been handed down, I will keep
\non fighting for what I believe,\" she said.<\/p>\n
She is convinced that her core struggle is to uphold her
\nidealism as a teacher, a profession she embarked on in 1990.<\/p>\n
\"A teacher should set a good moral example, including by
\npersistently fighting for what is right,\" Nurlaila said.<\/p>\n
Persistence seems to be in her blood. Her road towards
\nbecoming a teacher also required patience and persistence as she
\nhad to wait years to be employed by the administration as a full
\ntime teacher.<\/p>\n
In the mid 1980s, after graduating from high school, she
\ndecided to become a teacher because she wanted to be a civil
\nservant. After a year of being rejected by schools across
\nJakarta, she decided to look for a job in the Pulau Seribu
\n(Thousand Islands) regency.<\/p>\n
Instead of finding a teacher's position, however, she ended up
\nmarrying the headmaster of one of the junior high schools in that
\nregency.<\/p>\n
\"On Dec.14, 1986, I married the headmaster of SMPN 133 junior
\nhigh school in Pulau Seribu. I then taught part-time at schools
\nacross the regency until the administration elevated my status to
\ncivil servant in 1990,\" she said.<\/p>\n
In 1994, she was assigned to teach Pancasila Moral Education
\n(PMP) at SMPN 56 in South Jakarta, which is now called Civics.<\/p>\n
\"I actually prefer to teach PMP, which teaches ethics, instead
\nof teaching regional autonomy, the main subject in civics,\" said
\nthe mother of three children.<\/p>\n
Now unemployed, Nurlaila must depend on her husband's pension,
\nwhich is only Rp 310,000 per month, and also some contributions
\nfrom people who sympathize with her struggle, including comedian-
\nturn-legislator, Qomar.<\/p>\n
\"He said that he would pay six months of my salary,\" she said,
\nadding that her mother also gives her some financial support and
\na house to live in.<\/p>\n
Nurlaila's family have been her main supporter in her
\nstruggle, besides the dozens of NGO activists who have openly
\nexpressed their backing, including the late human rights
\nactivist, Munir.<\/p>\n
\"My mother, my children, my brothers and sisters have all told
\nme not to give up and to keep on fighting. None of them blame me
\nfor fighting this,\" said Nurlaila, who was honored as a Child
\nRights Fighter in last year's Children's Day commemoration.<\/p>\n
But somehow, Nurlaila cannot forget the support she received
\nfrom Munir.<\/p>\n
\"Munir told me that I was on the right track and that I should
\nnot follow my colleagues in giving up. He also told me to be
\ncareful because the man I'm fighting is a military man,\" she
\nsaid, recalling how she met Munir two days before he flew to
\nHolland.<\/p>\n
\"When I found out that he had been murdered, I was stunned.
\nBefore he left Indonesia he said that I should be careful about
\ndrinking or eating anything offered to me by strangers. I could
\nnot believe that he, instead, was poisoned,\" said the woman, who
\nwears Islamic headdress.<\/p>\n
\"Because of him, I will keep on struggling. Win or loose, I'm
\nstill proud to hold on to my principles. And I believe that Allah
\nwants me to continue to defend the Melawai school,\" said
\nNurlaila. (006)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/nurlaila-stands-firm-against-injustice-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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