Soeharto's trial

Soeharto's trial

The trial of Pak Harto (former president Soeharto) is no
longer a judicial proceeding, nor is it a political trial. It is
a trial of doctors -- or rather, a trial of the medical
profession. The defendants are doctors, the defense lawyers are
doctors and, in reality, the judges too are doctors. For those
reasons one can understand why a person such as Prof. Dr. Mahar
Mardjono (former University of Indonesia rector) was so angry,
even to the point of suggesting that the university's school of
medicine be closed.

His indignation started with the public prosecutor and the
judges doubting the independent opinions of the two teams of
doctors who examined Soeharto earlier. That was humiliating
because doctors work under oath. It was insulting to the dignity
of the medical profession to have members of other professions
(public prosecutors and judges) doubting the independence of
doctors. Seen from this perspective, Prof. Dr. Mahar Mardjono's
indignation is easy to understand.

Soeharto's trial also displayed a digression from medical
ethics. The doctors were "compelled" to divulge all the diseases
from which Soeharto suffered, even to the point of tracing back
his medical history to 1949. Everything was disclosed "for the
sake of justice."

The world was turned upside down. "For the sake of justice"
should have been a phrase for judges to pronounce. Now it is said
by doctors. We must admit, doctors pronounced Soeharto's verdict
-- not judges. The institution that should be closed down is not
the university's school of medicine, but the school of law. After
all, that institution has failed to turn out prosecutors, judges
and lawyers capable of holding up the supremacy of the law.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta