Justice-seeking teacher to face trial
Justice-seeking teacher to face trial
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Nurlaila is a humble teacher, but with a spirit of defiance that
none of her fellow teachers would dare consider. However,
standing up for one's principles can land otherwise good people
in prison when they butt heads with governmental leaders in
certain places.
She used to teach at State Junior High School number 56, and
most recently sued Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso in the State
Administrative Court for dishonorably discharging her last year,
but now she finds herself on the verge of imprisonment for
"running an unlicensed school".
Nurlaila's lawyer, Lambok Gultom, told The Jakarta Post on
Wednesday that the case against her was proceeding quickly.
She has been named a suspect in the case filed by the Jakarta
administration last year, for refusing to leave the school
compound. She continued teaching after the city had sold the land
and shut the school, in what she claims was a very dubious deal.
"The police told her to come down to the station on Thursday,
so she can be taken to the Jakarta prosecutor's office," said
Lambok, who is a lawyer from the Association of Legal Advisers
and Human Rights (APHI).
Junior High 56 in Melawai, South Jakarta, was officially
boarded up after a land-swap deal between the Ministry of
National Education and PT Tata Disantara, a firm owned by former
minister of manpower Abdul Latief.
She continued teaching on the school's compound for several
months after its official closure.
Lambok said that state prosecutors would indict Nurlaila with
Article 61(1) and Article 71 of the National Education System
Law, which says that every education institution must have
permission from the state. She would also be charged with Article
167 for trespassing and Article 263 on forgery, because she
continued using the school's letterhead and stamp, he said.
"The charges are outrageous. First, she never established an
illegal school because she believes that the school should never
have been closed down. Second, Nurlaila has taught in the school
since 1994, so she did not trespass on her own school. Moreover,
the school's compound is a public space, every one has the right
to enter it.
"Third, the stamp was already made by the school. Nurlaila
used it for report cards for the students' parents," Lambok said.
Nurlaila and her lawyers avowed that the case was influenced
by "certain interests".
"Since I was declared a suspect, there has been no news about
the case. Why is it that suddenly the case is handed over to
state prosecutors' office when I'm suing the governor?" she said
on Wednesday.
Lambok and a team of lawyers from APIK women's legal aid body
said that they would try to convince the prosecutors' office to
examine the case carefully before it goes to court.
The prosecutors will try to determine whether or not
Nurlaila's case file is already complete. Should they declare it
complete, her case file would be handed over to the court for
trial. Usually, it takes district court prosecutors two weeks to
prepare for a trial. If prosecutors declare the case file
incomplete, it would be returned to police for further
investigation.
"We would like to seek a chance to convince the prosecutors to
acquit Nurlaila on all charges," he said. (006)