Language problem forces court to adjourn drug trial

JAKARTA (JP): Lack of a translator forced judges at the West Jakarta District Court on Wednesday to adjourn for a second time the preliminary hearing of two Ghanaians arrested for drug possession in June.

Presiding judge A.L. Rungngu said at the opening of the hearing that prosecutor Baza Telambanua should inform the Ghanaian envoy in writing that M. Lowaito and Bernard Okeke were on trial and request that the country provide a translator for the continuation of the hearing.

"Prosecutor Baza should notify Ghana's government representative here that two of its citizens will be tried here," Rungngu said.

"The letter to the Ghanaian government representative should also include a request for a native Ghanaian translator's assistance in the case."

Rungngu said the representative should provide a translator conversant in both the Ghanaian official language and Indonesian. English is the official language of the West African country but dialogs such as Twi and Fante are widely spoken.

"We should uphold the principles of objectivity during the hearings. It can be achieved only when the prosecution is carried out in the language which the defendants can understand," he said.

Judges seemed unaware of the official language status of English in Ghana and that both defendants speak the language well.

Rungngu insisted that the trial be carried out in Indonesian.

"We must highly respect our own language," he said.

Baza told the judges that he failed to find a suitable translator despite a weeklong search.

"It may take longer. I have been waiting for approval from my superior, the head of the Jakarta High Court, who will convey the message to Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Baza said after the hearing.

He added that it would be the responsibility of the ministry to inform Ghana's diplomatic representative about the case.

Tokyo office

Baza said the delay in the hearings would only extend the detention period of the defendants.

"The two defendants have been detained for three months, and they might serve longer if the judges insist on us obtaining an answer from the Ghana's representative office here," he said.

Ghana's diplomatic mission for the Asia Pacific region is located in Tokyo.

Baza was scheduled to read his indictment at Wednesday's hearing. Lowaito and Okeke were present, accompanied by their lawyers H. Hosen Aho and John Kalangit.

A legal observer condemned on Wednesday the delay in the trial, saying the judges were showing inordinate tolerance toward the defendants.

"Our law rules that anybody violating the laws here could be tried before the court," the head of the criminal division of the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute, Daniel Pandjaitan, said.

Article 2 of the Criminal Code stipulates that anybody accused of committing a crime in Indonesia is subject to Indonesian laws.

Rungngu adjourned the hearing last week because Baza failed to present approval from Accra's representative office to try the two.

Hosen Aho said city police officers arrested the Ghanaians for alleged possession of 200 grams of cocaine during a raid at Hotel Pintu Besar in West Jakarta in June.

Rungngu adjourned the trial until Oct. 20 to hear the prosecutor's indictment. (asa)