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.