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.