It is often said that the Indonesian judicial system is rotten to the core. But there is a judge of the Supreme Court always maintains or expands the penalties of criminal corruption, and sides with the poor.
Judge Artidjo Alkostar | Courtesy of Wikimedia
This judge is Artidjo Alkostar. For anti-graft activists, he is a hero. In more than a dozen corruption cases appealed to the Supreme Court, upheld the convictions or acquittals overturned.
For example, Artidjo led a group of three judges of the Supreme Court in November 2013 increased the sentence of former legislator Angelina Sondakh from four years and six months behind bars for 12 years accept bribes to public drilling markets.
He also extended the prison term of former President of the Democratic Party Anas Urbaningrum of seven to 14 years for corruption and money laundering.
Even the biggest names inspire fear. After former President Suharto was charged with corruption in 2000, Artidjo was on the panel of three judges of the Supreme Court handling the call. Two of the judges wanted to drop the case, but has Artidjo dissented, resulting in a compromise that Suharto would remain a suspect be tried when healthy. Suharto has never been brought to court and died in 2008.
Artidjo has a reputation for siding with the "little people". In 2011, the Supreme Court sentenced an elderly domestic worker, Rasminah, four months and 10 days in jail for stealing six plates, an oxtail, mouthwash and other items from his employer in Ciputat, to west Jakarta. Artidjo issued a dissenting opinion, stating that she was not guilty.
In October 2006, when the Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto for the murder of human rights activist Munir, Artidjo has dissented, asking for life imprisonment the pilot.
Artidjo also champions environmental affairs. In 2008, he was on a panel of judges of the Supreme Court which overturned the acquittal of wood Medan District Court tycoon Adelin Lis on charges of corruption and illegal logging.
For the political elite, the determination to punish the corrupters Artidjo earned him unflattering nicknames such as "crazy judge" and "the judge's killer."
Determination Fierce
Artidjo was born in 1949 in the city of East Java Situbondo. His mother was of Sumenep on Madura Island, where people have a reputation for being fiercely determined.
Her career in law came by accident. After finishing high school, he wanted to study agriculture because his father was a farmer (and a religious teacher). Artidjo entrusted a knowledge of the register in the Faculty of Agriculture of the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII) in Yogyakarta. Arriving at the entrance examination, he was informed that the Agriculture inscriptions had closed, then it falls within the law, with the intention of transferring to agriculture the following year. He finally enjoy the right and stuck with it.
After graduating in 1976, he considered becoming a state prosecutor before deciding to be a lawyer. In 1981 he was appointed deputy director of the office of the Legal Aid Institution (LBH) in Yogyakarta. In 1983 he became director of the office, a position he held until 1989. His early years with LBH coincided with the so-called "mysterious shootings" in which the military from 1983 to 1985 killed thousands of suspected thugs without trial and left their bodies in the streets in an effort to fight against crime. Artidjo protected some of the people on the hit-list, letting a gangster in his house for three months. In many cases, he confronted the army. There were rumors that Artidjo would be killed for his audacity.
In 1989 Artidjo went to New York and studied law of human rights at Columbia University. He also worked for Human Rights Watch's Asia division in New York for two years. Back home, he established a legal practice, Artidjo Alkostar and Associates.
In November 1991, the Indonesian army massacred more than 250 unarmed Timorese in a cemetery in Dili. After the bloodbath, Artidjo and another lawyer went to East Timor to defend two independence activists for subversion. Lawyers face many threats by military intelligence agents. The presiding judge at first refused to allow them to represent the accused, who were sentenced to 15 years and life imprisonment. Artidjo was then praised for its "commitment to the ideals of justice and human rights face threats, intimidation and obstruction."
Dark Justice
in 2000, then justice Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra Artidjo informed that he had been nominated to become a judge of the Supreme Court - at a time when the government tried to clean up the highest court by appointing lay judges .
Artidjo first refused. "because I knew that the world of justice was black ... because there is often bribes. I knew this from my experience as a lawyer" , he said.
Yusril assured him that he had been appointed by the activists of human rights and reformists. So Artidjo consulted Muslim clerics Madura, who advised him to accept. After suffering an "aptitude test", he was installed as judge.
Within two months of joining the Supreme Court, he put a notice on his door that read, "No visitors who want to talk about the event," because many people have tried to bribe for favorable verdicts.
He said an acquaintance offered him money, a car and an apartment. Another time, a businessman from the East Java capital Surabaya came to his office and announced: [19459029"MrArtidjohereisthemoneytheother[judges] already have them." ]
as a judge, Artidjo should have received an official residence in Jakarta, but it ended up renting a modest house behind a welding shop in the old-fashioned neighborhood Kramat Kwitang because a retired judge refused to leave home free. Artidjo turned heads to the Supreme Court because it is often arrived at work in a bajaj . On most Fridays, he still flies to Yogyakarta (where his wife lives) and Saturday lectures in law at his alma mater, UII.
While many judges live in opulence well beyond their official salaries alone luxuries Artidjo carp are its collections of bonsai and ornamental plants. It is also a voracious reader, enjoying the fiction of crime and philosophy.
Bantleman & Tjiong
May 22, Artidjo turn 67. Supreme Court used to have retired at 65, but in 2009 the retirement age was extended to 70.
If Artidjo had retired at 65, it would not lead the panel of three judges, February 24 quashed the acquittal of Jakarta high Court two schools Intercultural Jakarta (JIS) teachers, Canadian Neil Bantleman and Indonesian Ferdinant Tjiong, on charges of sexually abusing three boys in kindergarten. Teachers were initially sentenced by South Jakarta District Court and sentenced to 10 years. Artidjo extended their sentence to 11 years.
Many expatriates in Jakarta believe that the case of abuse was unfounded and motivated financially. The mother behind the charges, which has since moved to Belgium, insists that her son was repeatedly raped in the toilet, and also in the vitreous office Bantleman and "secret room" in the staffroom - and a magic stone and magic potion were involved. She first tried to continue to JIS US $ 12.5 million and blamed the alleged abuse of six cleaners, one of whom died after brutal police questioning. Others say they were tortured to confess.
When the mother could not get any compensation because JIS had no responsibility for cleaning products, she said teachers were also involved in the abuse and has increased its request to $ 125 million. She maintains her son contracted herpes after sodomy, but an independent lab test conducted in Europe showed that the boy does not have the virus.
Despite weak evidence, the court of public opinion was firmly against JIS, which is one of the most expensive schools. Lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea said judges are often reluctant to issue judgments contrary to public opinion. "They have to do it to save their jobs; they must do to get public sympathy, "he told CBC News of Canada.
Artidjo, as usual, sided with the public, perhaps eager to show that foreign pressure could not influence the Indonesian justice Or maybe he was in a hurry -.. the Crown had requested the verdict be made before the travel ban on Bantleman expired reports indicate that the panel of judges was appointed as February 22, then made the decision two days later. - barely time enough
When foreign pedophiles are found in Indonesia, their generally countries do not insist on their innocence
.given the irregularities and the lack of evidence against Bantleman Tjiong and it seems that the usual heroism Artidjo may have led to a precipitate, defective verdict.
miscarriages of justice, no matter how well intentioned, are just as bad as judicial scams buying and selling verdicts. Meanwhile, the Indonesian mainstream media has lavished praise on the Supreme Court to maintain the credibility of the judiciary.