Sandal-theft case illustrates reality of Indonesia's court
Sandal-theft case illustrates reality of Indonesia's court
Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The story is unremarkable, but it is both ironic and
heartbreaking, as it is about a man who faces a possible five-
month prison term for allegedly stealing a pair of rejected
sandals from the factory of PT Osaga Mas Utama in Tangerang,
where he used to work.
A lawyer claimed that the incident showed "the real story of
Indonesia's courts", where the justice system favors those who
are in power and discriminates against the less powerful.
Has Hamdani bin Ijin, the former factory employee, received
justice? His supporters, who packed the Tangerang District Court,
where the sentence demand was presented on Jan.4, booed the panel
of judges as well as the prosecutors, as they considered the
sentence request too heavy.
Many other cases have proved that justice is very subjective,
depending not only on who the defendants are, but also who the
judges are.
Lawyer Johnson Panjaitan from the Indonesian Legal Aid and
Human Rights Association (PBHI) commented that Hamdani had been
indicted because his former employer was being vindictive.
"There is evidently a conspiracy between the employer, the
local police and the prosecutors. It is so sad that this kind of
thing still happens these days, right before our very eyes,"
Johnson said.
The unlucky employee, 25-year-old Hamdani, denied the
wrongdoing as he had not intended to steal the sandals.
He took the rejected sandals without the permission of his
employer and wore them when he performed wudhu (ritual ablutions)
to purify himself before he performed Friday prayers at his
factory compound. Some other employees used the same sandals,
too.
Hamdani was a labor activist. He had organized rallies to
demand salary increases and staged protests against his company
for dismissing nine laborers recently, Johnson told The Jakarta
Post on Tuesday.
His employer forced him to sign a resignation letter shortly
after he was arrested in October, Johnson added.
About two weeks before Hamdani heard the sentence request, the
Central Jakarta District Court had sentenced Ari Sigit, alias Ari
Haryo Wibowo, 31, grandson of former president Soeharto, to two
months and 22 days imprisonment after finding him guilty of a
more serious crime -- keeping 70 rounds of live ammunition at his
plush residence.
Ari's crime was a violation of Emergency Law No. 12/1951,
which carries a maximum sentence of death, or life in prison.
The father of three children, Ari automatically walked free
after the sentence was handed down as the jail term was exactly
the same as the time he had spent at the Salemba detention center
and under house arrest.
Violating the same article, Jerry, a resident of Jl. Manggis,
Manggarai in South Jakarta, was imprisoned for one year. Jerry
owned a revolver without a license.
The court gave Ari a light sentence despite his serious crime.
The sentence was even lighter than those made against defendants
who were convicted of petty crimes, including unemployed
Firmansyah, alias Ambon, who was sentenced to nine months
imprisonment by the East Jakarta District Court last August for
stealing a bicycle.
Such unfairness often takes place inside courtrooms and, most
of the time, the conspiracy remains unexposed by the media.
"It is the task of lawyers and the media to play a role in
monitoring such unfairness because the law enforcers themselves
play a role in the collusion," he said.
As for the sandal theft case, Johnson asked the National
Police and the Attorney General's Office to immediately summon
their respective officers and the prosecutors involved in the
case to find out what was really happening.
"Whereas now they (the police and prosecutors) are playing
around with a sandal thief, later they can be manipulated by big
corruptors and benefit from more serious crimes," he said.