What price justice in Lombok?
What price justice in Lombok?
This letter is about evasive justice in Lombok, West Nusa
Tenggara. For a year and a half now, my human rights have been
denied for no other reason than greed, the scourge of mankind.
The destructive forces of corruption, collusion and nepotism are
rife in this beautiful province, the truth muffled.
I am a naturalized Indonesian woman of 83, born of a
Swiss/English father and Australian/Scottish mother. For too long
I have put up with the hanky-panky that has been handed me by the
concerned government departments in Lombok regarding the
trespassing and destruction of my property and injuries to my
body by a Frenchman on a tiny, precious coral island off the
coast of Lombok where I have lived for 16 years among the beauty,
peace, safety and company of the intrinsic people.
My objection to the devastation of my property on the
beachfront brought forth these arrogant words, and I quote: "I am
a citizen of the world and can do what I want, how I want, where
I want and when I want." Do we need this human bulldozer in our
midst?
This was followed by the violent manhandling and assault on my
not-so-young body, in cahoots with his paid assistant, the horse
and cart driver -- the Frenchman's reason, a desire for a
personal path on private land without formal government approval.
He threatened to kill me, to gouge my eyes out and cut my throat.
The government of West Nusa Tenggara has said, in the presence
of witnesses, that this is a criminal case. How about the effect
of a story like this on the already ailing Lombok tourist trade.
Personally I love this place but the golden rule of "pay up or
lose out" is causing many people, including me, to ask where the
promised reform movement has disappeared to. What chance does the
average man or woman have for justice? I, for one, certainly do
not intend to change my principles by taking up bribery to ensure
my rights. Many people are scared to speak up. I am not. I
believe that justice is due to us all. Human rights should be the
same for us all, not be dependent on corruption.
My situation now is this. The Mataram Police and the attorney
general have informed me that there are not enough witnesses or
evidence to pursue this case against the favored Frenchman from
Nice. Do these government bodies actually know their own laws or
have they cooked up their own laws? Those in the "legal know" in
Jakarta say that, without a doubt, the law is on my side.
Does Mataram not acknowledge my police complaint and five
other reports from respected doctors? Who do they think inflicted
those officially reported wounds on my body? My puppy dog? Who
has caused me to be ill for so long and to be still under
medication for post-traumatic stress disorder and so have to sell
my beloved property on the island. I have lived all over the
world, starting in Calcutta, India, and have never suffered
violence. I am a life-long pacifist but now, at 83, am forced to
begin a new life on the mainland away from the sea. For me, this
is a tragedy.
Who do these Mataram civil servants think they are fooling? I
ask them to study their own Indonesian laws and give me the true
justice to which I am entitled.
TRICH WILLIAMS
Gili Meno, Lombok