Father of Death Penalty Defendant Cannot Afford Travel Costs to Attend Son's Trial

Sulaiman (51), the father of Fandi Ramadhan (25), a defendant in an alleged two-tonne narcotics smuggling case who has been sentenced to death by prosecutors at Batam District Court, Riau Islands, faces significant difficulties travelling to follow his son’s case.

The resident of Medan Belawan, North Sumatra, must travel back and forth with his wife from Medan to Batam across the sea aboard the KM Kelud, a journey lasting one day and one night.

He is forced to travel by ship as he cannot afford air travel.

“I have no money — we are poor people. How could we travel by aeroplane?” he said when met in Batam on Sunday (22 February).

Sulaiman said he received Rp1 million in donations from residents of Kampung Kurnia, Belawan Bahari, to purchase tickets for the KM Kelud.

“Some donated 10, 20, 30, even 100 thousand — we collected it all to buy the ship tickets, and only then could we depart,” he said.

Sulaiman works as a fishing net fisherman with an uncertain income ranging from Rp30,000 to Rp100,000 per trip. When the weather is poor, he often returns empty-handed.

Since his son became entangled in the alleged narcotics case, Sulaiman has stopped going to sea in order to focus on attending court proceedings. He has tried to be present at every hearing, but was unable to attend the reading of the death sentence demand against Fandi as he had no money to stay in Batam.

“I went home after attending the witness testimony hearings. My wife stayed in Batam, lodging at her younger sibling’s house,” he said.

Sulaiman expressed gratitude to the residents of his village for their concern and assistance to him and his family.

He also thanked Fandi’s friends, alumni of the Aceh Maritime Polytechnic, who contributed funds to support the family’s needs.

Fandi Ramadhan is a graduate of Malahayati Maritime Polytechnic in Aceh, completing his Level 4 Engineering certification in 2022.

After graduating, he was unemployed for a year, during which he worked alongside his father fishing at sea.

Fandi eventually secured employment as a crew member aboard the Sea Dragon, a vessel from Thailand. However, he was arrested when a joint team from the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) and the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) intercepted the Sea Dragon for carrying nearly two tonnes of narcotics. Prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for Fandi.