A baffling decision

Once again the Supreme Court has presented us with a paradox to challenge our sense of justice. In settling an appeal filed by (ousted Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) leader) Megawati Soekarnoputri in her case against her political rival Soerjadi and the government, the Supreme Court pronounced a double ruling. It allowed Megawati to pursue her lawsuit against Soerjadi but prohibited her from proceeding against the government.

The PDI case, particularly Megawati's ouster as leader of the party, presents us with a sample of flagrant injustice and arbitrary behavior on the part of those in power. Megawati, feeling confident of the judiciary's impartiality, turned to the judiciary to settle her case -- obviously in faith that she would be getting justice, since in theory the judiciary is the ultimate bulwark of justice that can be relied on to judge with impartiality who is right and who is wrong.

For the public, though, it must be difficult to follow the reasoning of the Supreme Court judges who arrived at this split decision. It must have been obvious all along to those who have any notion of politics that the current dispute between Megawati and Soerjadi cannot be viewed in isolation from the government's role as the country's political patron. This is a fact that Soerjadi himself has already explicitly acknowledged.

The Supreme Court, however, appears to be convinced that the government is totally innocent of having contributed to the rift and the tragedy involving the PDI. This assumption seems to defy the public's observations and common sense. It is still very clear in our political memory how the New Order government sought to control all it could -- most of all in politics -- to preserve itself. Targets were set for the purpose of maintaining its grip on power, and all the processes and mechanisms available were utilized to ensure that those targets were attained -- never mind if those acts defied the public's sense of justice.

The PDI case proves once again that the Supreme Court positions itself as a servant of the government, rather than as the ultimate bulwark of justice for all.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta