Abusing concept of justice
The letter from D. Prabhakar (Oct. 23) should remind us all that there are more important things being lost in this current year of tragedy for Indonesia than foreign investment -- lives are being lost wholesale (ferry, train, bus and aircraft disasters, for example), but to me, the most poignant death has been the state condoned murder in Saudi Arabia of the East Javanese girl, Soleha Anam Kadiran.
His letter reminds us, very comprehensively, of the abominable miscarriage of justice in the case of Soleha. Clearly Mr. Prabhakar is a lawyer, and takes us through every conceivable unanswered question in his letter, but I fervently believe the answers to all his questions are a resounding no -- no proper defense, no explanation of the charges in Bahasa Indonesia, and definitely no appeal to a "higher court".
In terms of Saudi Arabia, we should not use the term "court" -- definition "a place where legal matters are decided by a judge and jury" (Collins Cobuild English Dictionary). Over the last two decades, Saudi Arabia has gained a very negative rating with human rights activists worldwide for its primitive ways of abusing the concept of "justice". We should not be surprised: this is a country where so called "tourist police" berate foreigners continuously with regards to so-called breaches of dress code, a country whose nationals claim to be guided by high sounding principles, but still can be seen enjoying themselves around the fleshpots of the world, and who clearly assume a mantle of self-importance, at least until the oil runs out and they descend to their proper rating in the world.
Here is the girl, Javanese by birth (and, therefore, by my reckoning, very likely to be a gentle soul), trapped by some agency into going to this Middle East "kingdom," where at best, she would have been abused by her employers, or treated as a plaything by anybody and everybody, in order to survive and save some money for the future, but, she ends up buried in a foreign land, with her life cut short.
Clearly, we do not know, nor never will, if any crime at all was committed. But Mr. Prabhakar's letter, step by step, guides us through what should have happened and what, of course, would have happened in any country claiming to be civilized.
The real question is -- who is to care about this -- her family, given the "news" days after she was beheaded, certainly -- the government is involved? -- doubtful, then the only hope is to follow the guidance of Mr. Prabhakar "all human rights activists throughout the world should address this issue, not only in the judicial area but also in the legislative area. The Jakarta Post should certainly help.
Now that Mr. Prabhakar has shown exactly why, in this specific instance, it is not enough for the Post to say "we should respect the laws of the country concerned". As a British national I have, of course, no obvious direct interest in this horrendous murder, but regardless of nationality, surely to God we should support any efforts to bring pressure on or redress against, the cruelty which allowed this brutal state killing to go ahead against an undefended, unprotected, victim far away from her homeland.
We Brits like to stand up and be counted, and I can tell Mr. Prabhakar, or anyone else wishing to expose this murder to the wide world, or pressure the Saudi Arabians in any way, you can have my support. My contact details are with the editor.
Finally, Earl Spencer's speech at the funeral of his sister Lady Diana was described as "exquisitely crafted" as indeed it was -- I would take the liberty of applying this phrase also to Mr. Prabhakar's letter and I thank him for drawing me into a response.
May God bless the family of the girl and may God support all efforts to expose and publicize this ferocity, and shame the Saudis into retribution, recompense, and redemption.
BILL GUERIN
Jakarta