District court rejects 'yellowization'case
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The Semarang District Court ruled last week it did not have the authority to try the lawsuit filed by local branches of the United Development Party (PPP) against Central Java Governor Suwardi for his "yellowization" drive.
The court suggested the lawsuit be taken to a state administrative court.
Representatives of seven PPP branches accused Suwardi of "arbitrarily painting public objects in yellow as a way to force public support for Golkar". Suwardi had also failed to solicit the approval of the provincial legislative council before launching the "yellowization" drive.
"The governor has disregarded the people's representatives, and this is something that has to be fought," said Mudrick S.M. Sangidoe of PPP Surakarta who initiated the legal battle.
He said he had requested in January that Suwardi revoke his instruction. Suwardi said that as the sole power holder in Central Java, he attained the right to paint public facilities yellow.
The PPP branches retaliated by repainting various objects white, including the Grand Mosque of Surakarta. Suwardi, his regents and mayors, repainted the facilities yellow.
The color war became a source of contention and amusement for many people. "The winner in this battle is the paint producers," some said.
Mudrick and his colleagues from Klaten, Boyolali, Wonogiri, Karanganyar and Sukoharjo went to court and sued the governor. Their lawyers, led by Busyro Muqqadas, accused the governor of ill intent by ignoring the PPP protest on "yellowization".
The lawyers also demanded Rp 7 billion (US$2.9 million) in compensation. "If we win, we'll spend the money on the poor," Mudrick said.
The compensation became a source of speculation. It was the same amount of money Suwardi spent for the construction of his official residence, much to the chagrin of the local legislators who had fought against it.
Muqqadas believes the governor should have respected the rights of the three poll contenders. Suwardi was clearly supporting Golkar and discriminating against PPP and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
But the governor's legal counsel, Wisnu Baroto, told the Semarang District Court that painting public objects yellow was not a crime.
Suwardi has been charged more than once. There is the case of Kedungombo, filed by villagers whose land was appropriated for dam construction. There is also the ongoing suit filed by 643 Yogyakarta citizens enraged at his recent suggestion that the sultanate town be integrated into Central Java.
His subordinate, the mayor of Surakarta, Imam Soetopo, is currently facing a lawsuit for painting public objects inside the Surakarta palace yellow. The suit was filed by a number of abdi dalem or the traditional employees and servants of the palace, including soothsayer Permadi.
Representation
The lawsuits against Suwardi and his subordinate are but a few in the increasing number of suits against the government. When the public is unable to sue the government, it is government "representation" that is sued.
The ousted chief of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Megawati Soekarnoputri, instructed her supporters to wage a legal battle against government-backed Soerjadi, and his supporters.
But Megawati has not fared well in her legal war. Out of the 22 lawsuits already processed in court, her camp won only two, namely those tried in the Bekasi and Denpasar district courts. Other lawsuits filed by her and her supporters have yet to be processed.
Launching legal action against the government is not easy, especially if one does it alone. Former chief of Sariharjo village in Sleman, Central Java, Moch. Irsjadi, learned this the hard way.
He sued the provincial administration because the governor canceled his appointment as the village chief. The governor cited Irsjadi's "troubled marriage" as the reason not to swear him in.
Irsjadi was enraged. "I was elected in a democratic manner. I passed all the tests given by the government, I passed special screening (to clear one from past communist links). Not installing me was an arbitrary act," he said.
Irsjadi won the lawsuit he filed with the Semarang State Administrative Court and the provincial High Administrative Court.
Suwardi appealed the ruling, and later "defeated" Irsjadi in the Sleman District Court, accusing him of dishonesty when he applied for the position of village chief. The governor said Irsjadi's high school diploma was fake.
Intimidation
Others who found it difficult to take the government to court were five Sraten villagers in Sukoharjo, Central Java. Sembodo and his friends refused the compensation offered by the local administration for their land appropriated for the road project connecting Yogyakarta and Surakarta.
The villagers were accused of being "communists" and became the target of intimidation and terror.
"We had asked for compensation of Rp 70,000 (US29) for every square meter of land and building appropriated, but the local government only wanted to pay us Rp 1,000," Sembodo said.
Several farmers gave up and received whatever compensation was offered by the local administration, but Sembodo and the remaining four persisted and sued Sukoharjo Regent Setiawan Sadono. The Yogyakarta Legal Aid gave the farmers legal assistance.
Legal Aid lawyer, Ari Suseta, said an out-of-court settlement was finally reached. The Sukoharjo District Court ruled recently that the regent had no right to force the farmers into selling their land, and the land price had to be negotiated.
"That's a lesson for administrators who like to act arbitrarily," Ari said.
A political law expert at the Islamic University of Indonesia in Yogyakarta, Moh. Mahfud, said Indonesians have become more critical and aware of their legal rights, which is why they now dare to sue the government.
"The government needs to accept this development, rather than force its will on the court. Dissatisfaction will grow if a case that should have won turned out to lose," he said.
"Dissatisfied people may be driven to vent off steam in many ways, in ways not even the government could control," he said. (38)