A baffling decision

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