Singing justice handles Marsinah's case<\/p>\n
By T. Sima Gunawan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): \"I'm crazy for feeling so lonely\/ I'm crazy for
\nfeeling so blue\/ I knew you'd love me as long as you wanted me\/
\nbut you left for somebody new.\"<\/p>\n
The lyrics filled the air as Deputy Chief Justice for Criminal
\nAffairs Adi Andojo Soetjipto sang his favorite song, Crazy.<\/p>\n
\"Crazy was first sung by Patsy Cline. Later Julio Iglesias
\nalso sang the song,\" he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The justice, who obviously loves singing, recently made the
\nhistoric decision to acquit nine people earlier convicted of
\nbrutally killing labor activist Marsinah. The controversial
\ndecision to free the accused was made along with associate
\njustices Karlinah Palmini Achmad Soebroto and Tomy Boestomi.<\/p>\n
For Soetjipto music is the best remedy to relieve the stress
\nof work. He has hundreds of cassettes and dozens of CDs, but a
\nsimple sound system.<\/p>\n
\"My sound system equipment is not sophisticated and I don't
\nhave a special music room. I listen to the songs in my bed room,
\nbefore I sleep,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Born on April 11, 1932 in Yogyakarta, Soetjipto started
\nsinging when he was a little boy.<\/p>\n
\"When I wanted to sing, I climbed up a blimbing (star fruit)
\ntree in the yard and sang loudly,\" he recalled.<\/p>\n
He joined the choir at elementary school and took part in a
\ndistrict song contest. His group came first, but they lost at the
\nregency level.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know why our teacher did not train us to practice
\nprior to the regency level contest. I cried when we lost,\" he
\nrecalled.<\/p>\n
Soetjipto played the violin at junior high school and the
\nguitar when he was a senior high school student in Surabaya. He
\nwas the first guitarist of the Hawaiian Swingers, a group at his
\nschool.<\/p>\n
\"We performed at weddings. I remember earning the first fee of
\nRp 17. I gave it to my mother,\" he said.<\/p>\n
At the university, he accompanied Ebet Kadarusman on his
\nguitar in a contest and placed second. Kadarusman is now a host
\nof a TV talk show on RCTI.<\/p>\n
Soetjipto majored in law at the University of Indonesia
\nbecause he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become
\na judge.<\/p>\n
\"I had dreamed of becoming a judge since I was still in the
\nelementary school. At that time, I often put the title Mr.
\n(Mister in de Rechten or Master of Law) in front of my name,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
But the Ministry of Education and Culture, which had provided
\nSoetjipto with a scholarship, assigned him to the legal bureau of
\nthe Ministry of Health in 1958. After negotiating for an hour,
\nofficials at the ministry agreed to allow Soetjipto to register
\nat the Supreme Court as a judge.<\/p>\n
Soetjipto was then sent to the Madiun District Court in East
\nJava to start his judicial career.<\/p>\n
\"The first case I handled was a gambling case. But, I made a
\nmistake because I detained all of the defendants,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The defendants were sent to court under an ordinance which
\ncarried a less-than-three month jail term. According to the law,
\na defendant should not be put under detention if the possible
\njail term is less than three months.<\/p>\n
\"The defense lawyer, Soemarno P. Wirjanto, lodged a protest to
\nthe Supreme Court, which later ordered the release of the
\ndefendants,\" Soetjipto said.<\/p>\n
\"I was embarrassed and I will never forget it. I told myself I
\nwould make no more mistakes,\" he said.<\/p>\n
A few months later, he was transferred to the Ponorogo
\nDistrict Court in East Java. In 1960 he was appointed chief of
\nthe Bojonegoro District Court, also in East Java, replacing his
\nown father.<\/p>\n
When West Irian, now Irian Jaya, was being made into the 26th
\nprovince of Indonesia in 1963, Soetjipto volunteered to serve in
\nthe troubled area.<\/p>\n
He was among several judges who tried members from the
\nOrganisasi Papua Merdeka (Free Papua Movement) separatist group
\non subversion charges. Due to the lack of civil judges, a
\nmilitary judge was asked to help try the cases, according to
\nSoetjipto.<\/p>\n
In 1967, at the age of 35, Soetjipto was promoted to chief of
\nthe Irian Jaya High Court. Two years later he was assigned as a
\nrector at the local Cendrawasih University. He said many students
\nat the time didn't agree with the integration of Irian Jaya into
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
\"I sent anti-Indonesia students the Satya Wacana Christian
\nUniversity in Salatiga, Central Java. It worked. Upon their
\nreturn from Salatiga, they were not against the government
\nanymore,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In 1970 he transferred the post at the university to August
\nMarpaung, who was later appointed Indonesian Ambassador to
\nAustralia, and moved to Semarang to serve as deputy chief of the
\nCentral Java High Court.<\/p>\n
After four years, he was promoted to chief of the Bandung High
\nCourt, where there was a backlog of hundreds of cases. During his
\nterm of office, he finished handling all of the cases.<\/p>\n
Soetjipto started as a judge at the Supreme Court in 1981. In
\nthe following year, he became the Deputy Chief Justice for
\nCriminal Affairs, a post he still holds.<\/p>\n
He has made a number of legal breakthroughs, including in the
\narea of smuggling. In 1983 he ruled that a defendant should be
\ndeclared guilty of smuggling if he or she had the intention to do
\nso.<\/p>\n
Before issuing a new ruling, prosecutors must prove that the
\ndefendant in a smuggling case had the intention to smuggle, and
\nthat the defendant had executed the foiled smuggling activities.
\nEven though a person had the intention to smuggle an item, the
\ncourt might release them if they didn't carry out the smuggling
\nactivities.<\/p>\n
This was what happened to a businessman who transported five
\nkilograms of gold from Jakarta to Tanjung Pinang in Riau. He put
\nthe gold bars in used battery boxes with false documents. The
\nTanjung Pinang authorities thought he was planning to smuggle the
\ngold bars to Singapore and sent him to court.<\/p>\n
But the defendant was freed because he had not actually
\nsmuggled anything.<\/p>\n
Soetjipto, who examined the case, decided on Feb. 28, 1983
\nthat the defendant was guilty and ordered the gold bars
\nconfiscated.<\/p>\n
The decision has become a popular jurisprudence, followed by
\njudges in the lower courts.<\/p>\n
In 1987 he ruled that the defendants in certain cases, such as
\nbrutal murders, rape and narcotics, could remain in custody after
\nthe official detention time had expired.<\/p>\n
Soetjipto denied that the ruling was against human rights.<\/p>\n
\"If a man accused of committing a cold-blood murder is at
\nlarge, people might become restless,\" he argued.<\/p>\n
Soetjipto believes that the public's right to be protected
\noutweighs the individual rights of a defendant.<\/p>\n
In 1988 the justice issued a ruling aimed at discouraging
\ncorruption.<\/p>\n
Under the Corruption Law, a court could order a defendant to
\npay compensation or spend additional time in prison if the
\ndefendant couldn't pay.<\/p>\n
Based on the 1988 Supreme Court ruling, compensation can't be
\nsubstituted with jail. If the defendant fails to pay, the
\ndefendant's heirs are held responsible for paying the debt.<\/p>\n
\"I made the decision to deter corruptors,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Yet the number of corruption cases has risen. The Attorney
\nGeneral's Office reported 360 cases in the 1994\/1995 fiscal year
\ncompared to 315 cases in 1993\/1994 and 293 in 1991\/1992.<\/p>\n
Change<\/p>\n
After almost forty years as a judge, Soetjipto says there has
\nbeen a change in attitude among judges.<\/p>\n
\"My father always told me to become an honest judge and not to
\nask something from the case I handle. Today, there are judges who
\nask (for money). It is difficult to prove, but this happens,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Soetjipto says he doesn't accept gifts from people involved in
\ncases he handles, even after the decision is made. But, he
\ntolerates judges and justices who accept gifts as long as they
\ndon't ask for them.<\/p>\n
\"In this age, things won't work if we are too strict,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
There are more than 3,000 judges in Indonesia. Like other
\ncivil servants, judges swear that they will not receive anything
\nin connection with their position.<\/p>\n
Soetjipto said that in the 1960s he never heard of judges
\naccepting bribes.<\/p>\n
\"I don't really know when it started. It took me by surprise,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
\"I became aware about such things when I was the Bandung High
\nCourt Chief,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Th public have often complained about bribery in courts,
\nespecially those in big cities. People call it the \"court mafia\".<\/p>\n
Expressing his concern about reports of unscrupulous judges,
\nSoetjipto calls on judges to be patient and not to expect things
\nwhich are out of reach.<\/p>\n
\"If God permits, the time will come when you can afford a good
\ncar and a house,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Starting from January this year, the government increased the
\nbasic salary of judges by 100 percent. They will now earn between
\nRp 300,000 and Rp 1,075,200 a month.<\/p>\n
A senior justice gets more than Rp 4 million.<\/p>\n
\"The first time I bought a brand new car was in 1993,\"
\nSoetjipto said.<\/p>\n
He now owns two cars, a 1993 Suzuki Esteem and an older Toyota
\nvan.<\/p>\n
Recalling the hard times, Soetjipto said that early in the
\n1970s, when he was the deputy chief of the Semarang High Court,
\nhe sold the clothes he got at Idul Fitri to make ends meet.<\/p>\n
\"I also remember when, along with my son, I went from one shop
\nto another, trying to sell my tape recorder,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Soetjipto married Tuti Sirdariati in 1960 and they have two
\nsons and two daughters. The eldest son is a physician, the first
\ndaughter runs a pre-school and teaches music, the second daughter
\nhas just graduated from a computer college, while the youngest
\nson is still studying international law at a private university.<\/p>\n
A proud father and a happy grandfather of two, he lives with
\nhis wife, their youngest child and dozens of animals in a big
\nhouse with a spacious garden in the Supreme Court housing complex
\nin Pejaten, South Jakarta. There are dozens of birds, including
\nbirds of paradise, peacocks and several ducks, and a monkey.<\/p>\n
\"I used to have a deer, which I got from my father-in-law. But
\nit died,\" he said.<\/p>\n
One of the birds was a gift from a businessman.<\/p>\n
\"It (the gift) had nothing to do with the case I handled.
\nMaybe he gave it to me as an investment with a hope that someday
\nI can help if he has a legal problem. I don't know, I can't read
\npeople's mind.\"<\/p>\n
\"But judges do not live in an ivory tower. We need friends,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Even though he loves birds, Soetjipto eats them -- but not the
\nones he keeps.<\/p>\n
\"I like burung dara goreng (fried pigeon),\" he said.<\/p>\n
He does not eat out a lot. If he does, he always takes his
\nfamily to have Indonesian or Chinese food and sometimes Western
\ndishes.<\/p>\n
\"But I don't have good appetite now,\" he said without
\nexplaining why.<\/p>\n
A member of the International Board of Directors of the Asia
\nCrime Prevention Foundation, Soetjipto was a visiting expert for
\nthe United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention
\nof Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in 1989.<\/p>\n
He had just returned from the United Nations' headquarters in
\nNew York to discuss the plan to establish an International
\nCriminal Court when this interview was conducted. The plan was
\ninitiated by the International Law Commission, which drafted the
\ncode of crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind.<\/p>\n
\"Once the court is set up, it can try serious cases like
\ngenocide in Rwanda,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Soetjipto wrote about justice in Indonesia in a book entitled
\nCriminal Justice Profiles in Asia, published in Japan by Far East
\nInstitute earlier this year. Copies of the book were distributed
\nto participants of last month's UN Conference on the Prevention
\nof Crime in Cairo.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia has a good criminal justice system, which highly
\nrespects human rights. It is the implementation which is
\nsometimes against human right the principles,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Soetjipto, however, believes that some law enforcers, who have
\nstepped out of the line, will realize their wrongdoings and
\nreturn to the right track.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know whether I will be still alive when this
\nhappens,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Maybe this explains his loss of appetite.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/singing-justice-handles-marsinahs-case-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }