Nurlaila stands firm against injustice

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The story of David's triumph against Goliath inspires small people to maintain their courage in facing powerful interests in battles to defend the truth.

Nurlaila Haji Muhammad, a former teacher of SMPN 56 junior high school in Melawai, South Jakarta, seems to understand well the moral of that story.

Even though she realizes that she is just an ordinary citizen and an unemployed widow, she maintains her courage in facing what she perceives as an unjust decision from the most powerful person in Jakarta, Governor Sutiyoso, who fired her from her position as a civil servant.

The 47-year old has not stood quietly by and willingly accepted the decision. Instead, she has decided to sue the governor through the State Administrative Court for issuing the gubernatorial decree that she said disrespectfully dismissed her.

"The decree was issued on Dec. 6, 2004 and I received it on Dec. 13. But the funny thing was, the decree said that I was fired in February. Such a decree cannot be retroactive, that's why I'm suing him," she told The Jakarta Post at her modest home in the Blok A area of South Jakarta.

And that is not all. Nurlaila, who lost her husband in 1999, has not received the Rp 1.4 million in accrued salary dating back to December 2003. Plus, her rank as a civil servant has been downgraded from IV-A to III-D.

She has faced this series of sanctions because she refused to teach after her SMPN 56 was relocated to Jeruk Purut, some 12 kilometers from its original location in Melawai.

Last year, city public order officers locked up the Melawai school, arguing that it had to be relocated due to a 1998 land- swap deal between the Ministry of National Education and PT Disantara, a company owned by former minister of manpower Abdul Latief.

Of the 63 teachers who had originally opposed the deal, Nurlaila is the only one who still refuses to concede that the transaction was valid and legal.

"There was a divergence of law over the deal. Various ministerial decisions said that such deals had to be processed through a presidential decree. Meanwhile, Gus Dur, Megawati, and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono have never issued such a decree."

"Second, the land was only sold for Rp 2.5 million per square meter, while the tax valuation of the land was Rp 9.65 million per square meter. This indicates corruption," she said.

Because of this, Nurlaila is determined to keep demanding that the governor reinstate her rights as a civil servant.

At the same time, Nurlaila also keeps fighting to have the land-swap deal annulled as well. She is currently awaiting the outcome of a class action suit she filed along with parents of SMPN 56 students against the transaction in the Supreme Court.

"As long as no final verdict has been handed down, I will keep on fighting for what I believe," she said.

She is convinced that her core struggle is to uphold her idealism as a teacher, a profession she embarked on in 1990.

"A teacher should set a good moral example, including by persistently fighting for what is right," Nurlaila said.

Persistence seems to be in her blood. Her road towards becoming a teacher also required patience and persistence as she had to wait years to be employed by the administration as a full time teacher.

In the mid 1980s, after graduating from high school, she decided to become a teacher because she wanted to be a civil servant. After a year of being rejected by schools across Jakarta, she decided to look for a job in the Pulau Seribu (Thousand Islands) regency.

Instead of finding a teacher's position, however, she ended up marrying the headmaster of one of the junior high schools in that regency.

"On Dec.14, 1986, I married the headmaster of SMPN 133 junior high school in Pulau Seribu. I then taught part-time at schools across the regency until the administration elevated my status to civil servant in 1990," she said.

In 1994, she was assigned to teach Pancasila Moral Education (PMP) at SMPN 56 in South Jakarta, which is now called Civics.

"I actually prefer to teach PMP, which teaches ethics, instead of teaching regional autonomy, the main subject in civics," said the mother of three children.

Now unemployed, Nurlaila must depend on her husband's pension, which is only Rp 310,000 per month, and also some contributions from people who sympathize with her struggle, including comedian- turn-legislator, Qomar.

"He said that he would pay six months of my salary," she said, adding that her mother also gives her some financial support and a house to live in.

Nurlaila's family have been her main supporter in her struggle, besides the dozens of NGO activists who have openly expressed their backing, including the late human rights activist, Munir.

"My mother, my children, my brothers and sisters have all told me not to give up and to keep on fighting. None of them blame me for fighting this," said Nurlaila, who was honored as a Child Rights Fighter in last year's Children's Day commemoration.

But somehow, Nurlaila cannot forget the support she received from Munir.

"Munir told me that I was on the right track and that I should not follow my colleagues in giving up. He also told me to be careful because the man I'm fighting is a military man," she said, recalling how she met Munir two days before he flew to Holland.

"When I found out that he had been murdered, I was stunned. Before he left Indonesia he said that I should be careful about drinking or eating anything offered to me by strangers. I could not believe that he, instead, was poisoned," said the woman, who wears Islamic headdress.

"Because of him, I will keep on struggling. Win or loose, I'm still proud to hold on to my principles. And I believe that Allah wants me to continue to defend the Melawai school," said Nurlaila. (006)