JIS SHOCK – Will Canada Match Tough Talk With Action?

Stéphane Dion, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, said in a statement that the government was “deeply dismayed” by what it called an “unjust decision.”   http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bantleman-indonesia-supreme-court-1.3463266

He was of course talking about the Indonesian Supreme Court JIS ruling.

Shock is probably the most accurate description of how expats here have responded to yesterday’s news. We’ve posted on the JIS scandal often enough, and you can check back for details if you want to know more.

I was out again yesterday, a long journey into the heart of Jakarta. Hence it wasn’t till I met up with a group of foreigners downtown that I heard about the high court’s decision to reverse the accused teachers’ release  – and actually increase the sentence.

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Shock? Other words like consternation, or bafflement, would also be appropriate. But of course words are cheap.

Here are more of Dion’s.

“I just want to say that already today Indonesia is penalizing itself because the confidence one may have about the ability to do business in Indonesia, to have justice in Indonesia, has been jeopardized by the decision of the Supreme Court yesterday,” he told reporters.

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“So if Indonesia want to send a message that your rights will be respected — you will have due process in Indonesia — they need to correct the situation for Mr. Bantleman and the other gentleman.”

‘NEED TO?’   Fighting talk!

But will Ottawa actually DO anything?

Indonesia has emerged as Canada’s largest export market ($2.03 billion in 2014) in the Association of South-East Nations (ASEAN) region and is an important destination for Canadian foreign direct investment abroad (a stock of $4.32 billion in 2014). Canadian exports nearly doubled from 2010 to 2014. – http://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2015/11/15/prime-minister-announces-infrastructure-funding-indonesia#

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That report was all about how, only a few months ago, Canada promised Indonesia a further $14.25 million in aid.

Like I say, words are cheap, but money talks. That handsome donation will surely not be the last chunk of largesse from the pockets of Canadian tax-payers, over which Mr. Dion has some oversight.

That may, or indeed may not, add weight to his intercession with those who prowl the corridors of power here in Jakarta! 

 

JIS Justice? How About Compensation?

Good to see that hare-brained JIS verdict has been reversed, good of course for the two men now free …http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33924162

 

…but also very good for Indonesia, as people can see that there are judges who can think and act fairly.

Now how about extracting compensation for the men’s misery from the fools who put them through it.

And who might that be?

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Jakarta JIS ‘Rape’ Case – Trial Behind Closed Doors – Why No International Outcry?

With all the hue and cry over a case where there’s little if any doubt as to the guilt of the criminals involved, it’s good to see some attention in the media here to the JIS prosecution, where the accused teachers vehemently protest their innocence.

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I did give it a lot of coverage last year, but being dependent for my info on what one can glean from the press and tv, their long relative silence has restricted my own usually noisy reportage.

And here’s why. 

Very little information has been available from the trial as Article 153 clause 3 of the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP) stipulates that any trial involving a minor or sexual abuse case must be held behind closed doors.

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Furthermore, the panel of judges have prohibited any parties involved from making statements to the media outside the court to maintain the trial’s “privacy”. The unusual policy has been repeatedly criticized by advocates and the Judicial Commission.   : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/03/13/prosecutors-seek-12-years-imprisonment-jis-teachers.html

NB – that’s Indonesia’s own Judicial Commission!

Initially, my indignation was naturally on the side of the alleged child victims, but many curious aspects have arisen…

JIS, Police and ‘Magic Stones?’ C’mon, Pak Rikwanto, Talk Us Through This! 

…, and the benighted element here was all too quick to jump on the band-wagon. 

Fanatic Stirs JIS Storm – MUI’s Asrorun Demands Sectarian Schooling! 

One hopes the judicial mind-set does not resemble that of the head-scarfed bint who ranted about the teenage JIS students wearing normal teen girl gear, ‘free and minimal, as if that had anything to do with anything.

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– Lydia Freyani Hawadi,

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Would she have them shrouded like those poor dumb casbah cows in Arabia?

Hidden behind closed doors, outwith public inspection of what’s going on, who knows if the trial meets standards of transparent fairness and equity.

I won’t repeat all the details in the JP report, which you can read for yourselves.

Yet I am moved to wonder why so many foreign governments are raising hell over the fate of two convicted drug-smugglers, while we hear little or nothing about whatever representations are being made by their embassies on the decidedly odd arrangements at South Jakarta District Court.

I’m not convinced that putting Indonesia in the dock on the international stage is either wise or productive – more likely counter-productive, in my view – but the seemingly double-standard by overseas authorities is disturbing.

 

 

JIS Trial – Child Witnesses, Right or Wrong?

I haven’t commented recently on the Jakarta International School trial, a shocking saga of alleged child sex abuse. It made more sense to wait till the trial began.

But this week that finally happened. Please note there are two sets of accused, one a group of ancillary staff, and the others being two members of the teaching staff.

But it’s the witnesses we’re concerned with today, and one of the witnesses made a claim that  -if correct – blows a huge hole in the prosecution case.

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•  University of Indonesia law expert Chairul Huda testified Monday at the South Jakarta District Court in a separate trial that the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP) clearly stated that a child’s testimony could not be used as evidence of a crime.

•  Chairul Huda
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• “A child’s testimony cannot be used as evidence according to the code because underage witnesses are not required to swear an oath. Children tend to change their minds a lot and must be accompanied by an expert,” he said…   http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/12/02/jis-teachers-first-trial-starts-tuesday-south-jakarta-court.html

Not exactly difficult to check, because the KUHAP either exists or it doesn’t. I suspect it does!

And if Pak Huda has quoted it correctly, then the greater part of the case against the accued is shot to pieces.

Given what we heard some months ago about statements by the child witnesses, at least some of their testimony is bizarre, all about ‘magic stones’ and ‘secret rooms.’

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JIS, Police and ‘Magic Stones?’ C’mon, Pak Rikwanto, Talk Us Through This! 

Okay, things any witness says in such a case may well sound bizarre to the public, horribly so. But if those witnesses’ words are debarred from the legal process by Indonesia’s own legal codes…

How can a case be made?