Tubagus, 'the poor man's lawyer'

Tubagus, 'the poor man's lawyer'

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Lawyer Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto predicts that Jakarta will
still face problems related to disadvantaged and marginalized
people for at least the next 10 years.

Until then, Tubagus who currently heads the city affairs and
urban society division of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH),
will still be the lawyer of the poor, representing street
singers, newspapers sellers, beggars, the homeless, becak
(pedicab) drivers and prostitutes against, mostly, the city
administration.

"The city administration is very unfriendly to the poor. They
just arrest and evict them without providing humane solutions
despite the fact that many of them have been living here for
years," he said.

He claimed thousands of people have been evicted from their
makeshift houses on the city's riverbanks, preventing their
children from attending school.

Hundreds of pedicabs were seized without proper procedures,
while hundreds of street children and commercial sex workers were
harshly netted and detained at a rehabilitation center in Kedoya,
West Jakarta.

"Last year was the worst period in Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's
tenure. He carried out many evictions and committed many human
rights violations in handling disadvantaged people," he told The
Jakarta Post last week.

That's why he regretted that the city's 83 councilors accepted
Sutiyoso's 2001 accountability speech last week.

According to Tubagus, the city administration based its
actions against the poor people on city Bylaw No. 11/1988 on
public order.

Using the bylaw, the administration evicted poor people from
the riverbanks, arrested and detained street singers, newspaper
peddlers, and vendors in the Kedoya center.

"The administration cannot detain people. Only the court has
the right to detain people," he said, adding that the
administration has never asked the court about any of the alleged
violations of the bylaw.

That is the reason why the Central Jakarta District Court
recently lost in the lawsuit filed by 14 pedicab drivers and
street singers against the administration.

Together with non-governmental organization, the Jakarta
Social Institute (ISJ), whose lawyers also often represent the
poor people in court, Tubagus revealed that LBH had formulated a
revision of the bylaw.

"The revised bylaw would include a clause allowing pedicabs to
operate in residential areas here," he said.

He claimed that the revised bylaw has been promoted among NGO
activists and the underprivileged, and, in the near future would
be submitted to the City Council. "Besides representing them in
court, revising the bylaw is one way to help disadvantaged
people," he said.

"This job cannot be measured with money. Seeing the poor
people's win in the recent lawsuit makes me happy," he said.

Tubagus, who was born in Jakarta on Sept. 5, 1969, is also
active in many NGOs, including the Jakarta Residents Forum
(FAKTA), the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) and the
Urban Poor Consortium (UPC).

Tubagus, a graduate of the law school of the University of
Indonesia in 1995, joined LBH Jakarta as a volunteer lawyer
immediately after graduation. He started his involvement with
disadvantaged people in the institute's land and environment
division, which he chaired three years later.

Due to increased problems related to the poor and social
problems in the city, LBH set up a new division, namely for city
affairs and urban society in 2001 with Tubagus heading the
division until now.

Now, the concept and strategy for helping people has changed
from directly assisting them to indirectly helping them or by
representing them in court.

"Now the people have become their own lawyers, otherwise known
as ghost lawyers. We just discuss the cases with them, advising
them on legal strategies and so on," he said.

The change in concept has paid off. This could be seen through
the winning of the pedicab drivers' class action, said Tubagus,
who lives with his wife and daughter in a rented house in Cibubur
area, East Jakarta.

He said several street singers could now help release their
friends who were wrongfully detained at the Kedoya center.

Although Tubagus should "retire" next year, in accordance with
LBH regulations, he stated that he would always pay attention to
the plight of the disadvantaged people.

"I haven't decided to join a law firm at least for the next 10
years, as problems of the poor still draw my attention," said the
people's lawyer who wears glasses with thick lenses.

According to LBH regulations, its lawyers have to quit after
eight years of service.

LBH is known as the "training ground" for top lawyers in the
country, including Adnan Buyung Nasution, Mohamad Assegaf and
Luhut Pangaribuan.

Besides caring about the poor, he also cares very much for his
beloved wife Nita Meilani, a teacher of Penabur Catholic
elementary school and his beautiful four-year daughter Carla
Monica Gafrilla.

For the next few years, Tubagus will still probably use public
transportation from his house to LBH office, NGO offices or when
meeting disadvantaged people in other places in the city.