Tubagus, 'the poor man's lawyer'<\/p>\n
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Lawyer Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto predicts that Jakarta will
\nstill face problems related to disadvantaged and marginalized
\npeople for at least the next 10 years.<\/p>\n
Until then, Tubagus who currently heads the city affairs and
\nurban society division of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH),
\nwill still be the lawyer of the poor, representing street
\nsingers, newspapers sellers, beggars, the homeless, becak
\n(pedicab) drivers and prostitutes against, mostly, the city
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
\"The city administration is very unfriendly to the poor. They
\njust arrest and evict them without providing humane solutions
\ndespite the fact that many of them have been living here for
\nyears,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He claimed thousands of people have been evicted from their
\nmakeshift houses on the city's riverbanks, preventing their
\nchildren from attending school.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of pedicabs were seized without proper procedures,
\nwhile hundreds of street children and commercial sex workers were
\nharshly netted and detained at a rehabilitation center in Kedoya,
\nWest Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"Last year was the worst period in Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's
\ntenure. He carried out many evictions and committed many human
\nrights violations in handling disadvantaged people,\" he told The
\nJakarta Post last week.<\/p>\n
That's why he regretted that the city's 83 councilors accepted
\nSutiyoso's 2001 accountability speech last week.<\/p>\n
According to Tubagus, the city administration based its
\nactions against the poor people on city Bylaw No. 11\/1988 on
\npublic order.<\/p>\n
Using the bylaw, the administration evicted poor people from
\nthe riverbanks, arrested and detained street singers, newspaper
\npeddlers, and vendors in the Kedoya center.<\/p>\n
\"The administration cannot detain people. Only the court has
\nthe right to detain people,\" he said, adding that the
\nadministration has never asked the court about any of the alleged
\nviolations of the bylaw.<\/p>\n
That is the reason why the Central Jakarta District Court
\nrecently lost in the lawsuit filed by 14 pedicab drivers and
\nstreet singers against the administration.<\/p>\n
Together with non-governmental organization, the Jakarta
\nSocial Institute (ISJ), whose lawyers also often represent the
\npoor people in court, Tubagus revealed that LBH had formulated a
\nrevision of the bylaw.<\/p>\n
\"The revised bylaw would include a clause allowing pedicabs to
\noperate in residential areas here,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He claimed that the revised bylaw has been promoted among NGO
\nactivists and the underprivileged, and, in the near future would
\nbe submitted to the City Council. \"Besides representing them in
\ncourt, revising the bylaw is one way to help disadvantaged
\npeople,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"This job cannot be measured with money. Seeing the poor
\npeople's win in the recent lawsuit makes me happy,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Tubagus, who was born in Jakarta on Sept. 5, 1969, is also
\nactive in many NGOs, including the Jakarta Residents Forum
\n(FAKTA), the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) and the
\nUrban Poor Consortium (UPC).<\/p>\n
Tubagus, a graduate of the law school of the University of
\nIndonesia in 1995, joined LBH Jakarta as a volunteer lawyer
\nimmediately after graduation. He started his involvement with
\ndisadvantaged people in the institute's land and environment
\ndivision, which he chaired three years later.<\/p>\n
Due to increased problems related to the poor and social
\nproblems in the city, LBH set up a new division, namely for city
\naffairs and urban society in 2001 with Tubagus heading the
\ndivision until now.<\/p>\n
Now, the concept and strategy for helping people has changed
\nfrom directly assisting them to indirectly helping them or by
\nrepresenting them in court.<\/p>\n
\"Now the people have become their own lawyers, otherwise known
\nas ghost lawyers. We just discuss the cases with them, advising
\nthem on legal strategies and so on,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The change in concept has paid off. This could be seen through
\nthe winning of the pedicab drivers' class action, said Tubagus,
\nwho lives with his wife and daughter in a rented house in Cibubur
\narea, East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
He said several street singers could now help release their
\nfriends who were wrongfully detained at the Kedoya center.<\/p>\n
Although Tubagus should \"retire\" next year, in accordance with
\nLBH regulations, he stated that he would always pay attention to
\nthe plight of the disadvantaged people.<\/p>\n
\"I haven't decided to join a law firm at least for the next 10
\nyears, as problems of the poor still draw my attention,\" said the
\npeople's lawyer who wears glasses with thick lenses.<\/p>\n
According to LBH regulations, its lawyers have to quit after
\neight years of service.<\/p>\n
LBH is known as the \"training ground\" for top lawyers in the
\ncountry, including Adnan Buyung Nasution, Mohamad Assegaf and
\nLuhut Pangaribuan.<\/p>\n
Besides caring about the poor, he also cares very much for his
\nbeloved wife Nita Meilani, a teacher of Penabur Catholic
\nelementary school and his beautiful four-year daughter Carla
\nMonica Gafrilla.<\/p>\n
For the next few years, Tubagus will still probably use public
\ntransportation from his house to LBH office, NGO offices or when
\nmeeting disadvantaged people in other places in the city.<\/p>",
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