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.