Official admits error in detaining 9-year-old boy

JAKARTA (JP): A senior Ministry of Justice official admitted yesterday that it was wrong for the authorities to have put a nine-year-old boy in a Yogyakarta correctional institution designed for adults.

Director General of Correctional Institutions Baharuddin Lopa blamed the incident, which has sparked much outrage recently, on the local prosecutor's office and the police for detaining the boy in the first place for a minor offense.

"The boy should not have been detained because it was such a petty crime," Lopa told reporters after attending a hearing with Commission III of the House of Representatives.

He added that the correctional institution in Yogyakarta could not refuse the boy when he was brought over by the prosecutors because there was no juvenile detention center in the area.

The boy, a third grade elementary school pupil in the Kotagede district, was detained at the local police precinct after allegedly being caught red-handed stealing a bird worth Rp 4,000 ($1.7) in April. After 45 days, he was transferred by the to Wirogunan on June 13 based on an order from the Yogyakarta prosecutor's office.

He was released early this week and returned to his parents when his case became public.

Lopa, who is also the secretary-general of the National Commission on Human Rights, said the correctional institution does not have the authority to reject criminals or suspects sent over by the prosecutors.

In any case, the police and the prosecutor's office should not have detained him that long, he said, adding that the boy should have been returned to his parents.

He emphasized that the police and the prosecutors should not detain or prosecute children unless they are involved in very serious crimes. He cited as an example the recent case of a taxi driver murdered in Bekasi near Jakarta in which the suspects were children.

On a separate occasion Muladi, a legal expert and a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, said the detention of the boy was a "big mistake".

"It is obvious that our law enforcers do not know of the modern developments in criminal supervision," he was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying on Tuesday.

Law enforcers, especially government prosecutors and police officers, should understand and comply with the Beijing Declaration 1985, which deals with juvenile delinquency.

Indonesia does not have special juvenile courts to allow it to comply with the declaration.

He also noted that Indonesian law enforcement agencies are too rigid in applying the law and are slow to adjust to new developments. "The law enforcers comprehend the old laws in the old context," he said.

Muladi said law enforcement agencies should not wait until the establishment of juvenile courts to apply some of the principles dealing with juvenile delinquency. "They should anticipate translating the old laws," he said.

The government is currently drafting a bill on juvenile delinquency that would establish a minimum prosecution age. "Only children above 12 years of age are able to be pressed with criminal charges," he said.(imn)