Reopen the case

Reopen the case

From the very beginning, when nine staff members of the PT
Catur Putra Surya watchmaking firm in East Java went on trial in
a Surabaya district court for alleged involvement in the killing
of labor activist Marsinah, who was found murdered in May last
year, many people raised doubts over the fairness of the court
proceedings. Not only did the whole legal procedure seem fishy,
superficial and doubtful, but many were suspicious that the
defendants were victims of a frame-up.

During the trial, several judges deliberately chose to ignore
certain facts and disregarded new evidence raised by the defense
lawyers as "insignificant" or "irrelevant", thus basing their
judgment largely on the results of the police investigations.
When the media cried foul and demanded a fair trial the judges
were unmoved. The judges remained unshaken even when the
respected National Commission on Human Rights announced its
findings which raised the possibility of the involvement of
"parties" other than those already arrested and tried for the
murder of Marsinah.

As a result, all nine defendants -- including one army captain
-- who pleaded innocent, were found guilty of conspiracy to
murder Marsinah. All were convicted, their sentences ranging from
several months to 17 years in jail.

By the time that point was reached, the Marsinah case had come
into the international spotlight and respected bodies such as the
International Committee for the Protection of Human Rights were
urging the Indonesian government to thoroughly investigate the
case. Needless to say, none of this did much to lift Indonesia's
reputation regarding human rights, which for years has been under
constant attack from various international human rights watchers.

Marsinah became a symbol and martyr symbolizing the victims of
injustice. In the eyes of the world, she was a powerless labor
activist, who was slain for fighting for fair and just treatment.
Last year she was posthumously awarded the Yap Thiam Hien Human
Rights Award. Numerous poems and a play have been written in her
memory, while human rights activists continue to sound concern
over the matter.

The case acquired a new twist last month when the East Java
High Court cleared Judi Susanto, Marsinah's former superior and
owner of the watchmaking company, of charges and ordered him
released him from prison. The High Court ruled that the District
Court which had tried him had failed to prove that Judi had
indeed masterminded Marsinah's murder.

The decision was hailed by the public, but the Minister of
Justice was unhappy and has called for a review of the verdict.
The East Java police, apparently shaken by the new ruling, went
so far as to reject the recommendation of the National Human
Rights Commission that they reopen the investigation. They even
suggested that the commission conduct the inquiry itself.

Then an odd new development occurred: Last week the same
Surabaya High Court which acquitted Judi issued another decision.
It upheld the guilty verdict against another Marsinah case
defendant, Yudi Astono, and reaffirmed his four-year jail term.

In light of all these bewildering developments, we support the
National Human Rights Commission's suggestion that the police
reopen the case. There have been irregularities enough to justify
doing so. And there is no reason to close it, or even to delay
it, upon the excuse that the legal proceedings -- appeals to the
High Court and the Supreme Court and so forth -- are still
underway.

Of course, our good standing as a nation is at stake. But what
is far more important is that surely we do not want to be haunted
forever by a guilty conscience and by Marsinah's ghost, who
clearly wants to see that justice is done.