Hunger strikers protest injustice

By Mochtar Buchori

JAKARTA (JP): The July 18 edition of Merdeka carried a very moving story about the encounter between Supreme Court Justice Adi Andoyo Soetjipto and his student supporters in Central Java town of Purwokerto.

Justice Adi went to this small town because he was concerned for the health of the three students who went on hunger strike to express their sympathy and moral support for the political struggle he has been waging.

By the time he left for Purwokerto, the students were reported to have been on hunger strike for one week. Justice Adi thought it was enough, and decided to ask them to end their hunger strike.

The justice arrived in Purwokerto past midnight on Wednesday July 17 after a 12-hour non-stop drive from Jakarta in his Kijang, accompanied by his wife and children.

On his arrival he and his family went straight to the site where the three students were camping. A number of becak drivers noticed the justice's party and joined it. The three fasting students arose, and together they embraced the justice and cried. Seconds later, everybody in the tent was weeping, including the becak drivers.

After they regained their self-control, Justice Adi said that he was very grateful for their support, but that in his judgment nobody would gain anything from this form of protest.

"If you die, everybody will suffer. Your parents will suffer, I will suffer, and the problem we are fighting for remains unsolved. Thus let us conduct our struggle in a more rational way. We are intellectuals. Let us use our knowledge and our intellect to end this endemic problem of law violation. Let us have seminars, and discuss what steps must be taken to restore our law, and to make our society respect and abide by the law."

Ory, the only female among the three fasting students said in broken sentences: "This form of protest is indeed painful, Bapak. But the physical pain we have suffered is nothing compared to the emotional pain that you have gone through, and our collective pain watching the law being trampled in our society. I just cannot watch all these transgressions, and do nothing. I...can...take it...no more, Pak!" She broke down and wept.

The other two students added that they were on hunger strike because they were worried about the increasing deterioration of the judiciary. They said they felt deeply insulted by the blatant violation of law and justice, especially when it was being perpetrated by high-ranking government officials.

In a calm and fatherly manner, Justice Adi answered: "I know your feelings. But taking action that may destroy yourself will not solve anything. Please be patient, and let us try to solve this problem gradually, through seminars and other academic activities."

He was immediately interrupted by Ory. "I am sorry, Bapak, I no longer believe in such things. Fighting to resurrect justice through seminars seems to me just a waste of effort. It will lead to nothing. And I do not understand your passive attitude in the face of the arrogance of the chairman of the Supreme Court when he requests that you be forced into early retirement."

Justice Adi answered that his resigned attitude -- not to be perceived as passive -- stems from his desire to respect the office of the president, and to respect the president as the head of the Indonesian state.

He asked the students to understand his attitude, and to pray to God that together they will be able to do something constructive. A collective prayer for something good will be heard and granted by God. This is his conviction. "But we must pray sincerely and in a very solemn way. Do not do anything violent."

This serious exchange of opinions lasted for about one hour and a half, followed by more relaxed conversations, and concluded with an early breakfast in a party of around seventy, paid for by a local sympathizer.

The presence of the becak drivers was especially interesting because this shows not only the students felt insulted by the injustice done to Justice Adi by the leadership of the Supreme Court.

The shameless disregard for justice and truth by high-ranking law officers is perceived by the public in general, even by people from the lowest rank of society like the becak drivers.

It is heartrending to compare the moral attitude of this crowd with the moral attitude manifested in the statements made by the leadership of the Supreme Court. Every statement made by this leadership shows a total disregard for justice and constitutes a deep affront to the public sense of justice.

This contrast made me ask myself what makes people sensitive to norms of right and wrong, and makes other people completely ignore such norms.

What is it that makes some people respect the law, and others manipulate it on the other?

Certainly not knowledge of the law. What do these becak drivers know about the law? Literally almost next to nothing. Yet they respect and support a person who has tried to uphold justice. Compared this to the behavior of certain justices of the Supreme Court. What do they not know about the law, about Indonesian law? They know almost everything. And yet it seems that they do not have the slightest respect for the law.

On the basis of statements made thus far by these other supreme court justices, I think that whatever you do to show them that there is corruption in the Supreme Court, they will always find ways to say that what they see is nothing, only "procedural deviations".

This situation makes me remember a lesson I learned from my religion teacher when I was still eleven years old: "You can lead a person who is blind in his eyes head for the right direction, but you cannot make a person who is blind in his heart even see the right direction."

The writer is an observer of social and cultural affairs.