Justice in doubt

Justice in doubt

So persistently weird are the rumors one hears about
Indonesia's prison system that nowadays one hardly knows what to
think about what's going on in the institutions officially known
as lembaga pemasyarakatan -- that is, the institutions designed
to prepare crooks and criminals of all sorts to become normal
citizens living a normal life in society.

A lofty and humane objective indeed, and one of which
Indonesia can be justly proud -- assuming that the penitentiaries
are managed and run accordingly. In reality, however, a measure
of skepticism is justified.

In the first place it is hard to believe that Indonesia's
prison system is managed in such a way as to measure up to its
proclaimed goal. As is probably true in most other countries in
the world, money buys privileges even in prison. For those who
have nothing to offer, however, prison life can be harsh. Little
wonder that Soeharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala
Putra, even with his piles of money, has preferred to go into
hiding rather than face what he imagines to be the horrors of
imprisonment, such as being beaten up or sodomized by fellow
inmates.

Years ago, businessman Eddy Tanzil, who was imprisoned for
defrauding the state to the tune of millions of American dollars,
escaped from a Jakarta prison and has since remained at large. It
was at the time reported that Eddy bought himself a measure of
freedom by persuading prison wardens to allow him to make family
visits. It was while making one such visit that he quietly
slipped away. The news of his escape did not become public until
after Eddy was apparently already sitting high and dry on foreign
soil, out of the reach of the arms of the law.

That incident, at least, was officially acknowledged. And
although government officials are inclined to deny it, it is also
publicly known that prisoners with money enjoy certain luxuries
that are denied to ordinary inmates. Much stranger, however, and
more difficult to confirm, are the rumors that have never been
officially acknowledged but whose purveyors nevertheless swear to
being true. One such story, for example, has it that it is
possible for people with money to buy stand-ins or look-alikes to
take their place in prison.

It was this kind of inequality in the dispensing of justice
that recently sparked the prison riot at Cipinang Penitentiary in
East Jakarta. And although the precise reasons for Sunday's
prison riot in Cirebon are still being investigated, it may be
assumed that similar dissatisfaction lay behind the unrest.

Currently, this tarnished image of Indonesia's prison system
has led many Indonesians to suspect that more lies behind the
government's decision to transfer one of former president
Soeharto's business partners, Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, from Jakarta's
Cipinang Penitentiary to Nusakambangan than meets the eye.

It is true that Nusakambangan in Central Java is one of
Indonesia's foremost high-security penal islands. For that reason
those who are sent there are normally those who are considered to
be among the most hardened of criminals. A Jakarta appeals court
last month sentenced the former business tycoon to six years in
jail for his part in a multimillion dollar scam -- four years
longer than the initial two years he received from a lower
Jakarta district court.

As explained by the warden of Cipinang Penitentiary, Hasan was
being sent to Nusakambangan to prevent him from escaping. In the
eyes of many Indonesians, the opposite is probably true. Being
out of the public's sight, Nusakambangan would make it easier --
not more difficult -- for Hasan to escape, and that is precisely
why he will be moved away from Jakarta. After all, how could an
old man like Hasan escape unless it was with the help of insiders
-- which, one may assume, can easily be prevented given that the
will to prevent such an escape is present?

Weird? Perhaps. But conspiracy theories thrive in a social and
political climate polluted by crises of all sorts. In any case,
let us hope such suspicions are unfounded and that justice can
really run its course this time.