The value of evidence

I would like to respond to Ms. Julia Suryakusuma's article "Power dictates whether proof of rape exists" that appeared in The Jakarta Post on Sept. 17, 1998.

Ms. Julia Suryakusuma identified the ways in which the New Order government deals with the subject of "evidence" in connection with justice so well that further elaborations are hardly necessary. Her conclusions, however, that the bad record of the New Order government in dealing with the law justifies the exemption of the presentation of evidence relating to the mass rapes, is not acceptable from my point of view.

How can justice be served if the complainant cannot back his accusations with proper evidence? To question the necessity of evidence can equally lead to injustice and open doors to corruption, manipulation and denunciation.

Ms. Julia Suryakusuma is worried that people, not being confronted with clear evidence, might have doubts about whether the mass rapes really occurred. But she should try to understand that when dealing with such serious accusations as mass rapes, for which the whole nation has to face the shame, the demand for evidence is indispensable -- particularly in a time when Indonesia is on its way to becoming a democratic country based on the rule of law.

MRS. HILDE MAY

Jakarta