Court ruling shocks U.S. ambassador

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce has expressed disappointment over the Surabaya District Court's verdict handed down to five individuals tried for breaking into the U.S. Consulate General in Surabaya on Sept. 15 of last year.

In a letter sent to The Jakarta Post on Friday, Boyce said the two-month jail sentence each of the five defendants were given was extraordinarily light. In Thursday's hearing, the court exonerated two of the ring leaders.

"These verdicts represent a terrible miscarriage of justice," the ambassador said. "The fact that an unruly mob was able to break into a diplomatic establishment and damage property with virtual impunity will severely damage the reputation of Surabaya in particular, and Indonesia as a whole," he said.

Around 50 demonstrators, claiming to be from several youth organizations, rallied at the U.S. Consulate General on Jl. Dr. Sutomo, Surabaya, on Sept. 15, protesting what they claimed was American intervention in Indonesia's internal affairs (East Timor).

The youths gave speeches blasting U.S. threats to Indonesia related to disarming the militias in West Timor. Some of them eventually climbed the consulate general's fence, pulled down the American flag and set it on fire.

Boyce said that Indonesia was bound by the Vienna Convention, Article 31 on consular relations to protect diplomatic missions and personnel.

Local law experts earlier said that there were no local laws that cover malice by demonstrators, adding that as a result Indonesia could face economic or diplomatic sanctions from affected countries.

At the end of his letter, Boyce said that the Indonesian judicial system was supposed to deter lawlessness, not condone it. "We urge the Indonesian government and people to commit themselves to the rule of law," Boyce said.`