Railway official wins lawsuit against transportation minister

JAKARTA (JP): A chief of a railway station, who was said to have shared responsibility for the death of 129 people in a 1987 train accident in Bintaro, South Jakarta, won a lawsuit Tuesday against the Minister of Transportation.

Lawyers representing 52-year-old Djamhari, the claimant, said the Jakarta State Administrative Court annulled a 1996 decree discharging him as a ministry employee.

Apong Herlina, one of the lawyers from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute said Wednesday they had demanded the court to annul the decree because it was made effective before the date it was signed. It was issued by Minister Haryanto Dhanutirto.

Apong said the court also ruled that the defendant must "issue a new decree to resume the claimant's status as a civil servant, with his former position and employee rights".

The lawyer said the minister's decree contradicted an earlier court ruling that Djamhari was sentenced for negligence, and not for an intentional crime.

As head of Sudimara Station in Ciputat, Tangerang, Djamhari worked for the state-run railway firm, Perumka.

On Oct. 19, 1987, train 225 collided head-on with train 220 on the Tanah Abang-Merak, West Java route in Pondok Betung, Bintaro, South Jakarta. The train had just departed from Sudimara Station.

The decree was signed on May 22, 1996, but it stated that Djamhari was "honorably discharged as of the end of April 1994".

Judges, presided by M. Tengku Husni, ruled that a legal decree should not be effective before it was issued, Apong said in a statement received by The Jakarta Post Wednesday.

In 1987 Djamhari was sentenced to two years imprisonment for negligence, but was released because of his long detention.

But since then Djamhari, who Apong said had worked for 29 years at Perumka, has not been paid, and in May 1994 he was suspended from his job.

After the accident the driver of train 225, Slamet Suradio, was sentenced to five years in jail in 1988, also for negligence.

Slamet's assistant, Adung, 55, got one year in jail. Umriyadi, head of the traffic section of Kebayoran Lama Station, received 10 months in jail. Another Perumka employee was given a suspended sentence, and another was exonerated from all negligence charges.

Apong said among the court's considerations were that the minister's decree "reflected an arbitrary attitude, with the aim that the defendant would not be entitled to a pension because of his age".

Apong said Djamhari was 51 at the time the decree was issued, so he should have been entitled to a pension. But as it said he was discharged at the end of April 1994, this meant he was only 49 and was ineligible.

Since October 1987, she said Djamhari has only received 50 percent of his wages, or Rp 60,000 (now US$24.70) per month. But since May 1994, Djamhari has not received any payment.

"There was also no black or white decision on whether Djamhari was retired or rehired," Apong said. He tried to get his pension but only got his savings, she said. (12)