When The Law Becomes Impotent

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/03/26/your-letters-when-law-becomes-impotent.html

Our hearts mourned with deep anguish to see the 63-year-old Asyani, an elderly woman from Situbondo, East Java wailed in tears at the courtroom, begging for  mercy not to be put in jail. The idea of the fragile hunched elderly could even lift a teak wood she was accused of stealing from the state forestry company PT Perhutani, looked ludicrous. Even walking straight seemed a struggle for her, let alone carrying a piece of log on hear arched back. Yet, if anything being accused of proved true, we still find the vulgar spectacle irksome for our sense of justice.

Onanother public display, graft suspects from the law enforcers corp and politicians get away from trial. They can easily bend the rule. Smiling venomously, they defy the court order and make justice as a game of power. They manipulate the system and use any loopholes the judicial system for their advantage. They walk free with their privileges still intact.

This two contrasting dramashave our heart boiled with rage. There’s no such thing of equality before the law. We bitterly come to realize that the basic principle that no man is above the law and no man is below it, is nothing but eloquent words nailed on the wall. This rule of law does not apply to the poor and powerless. They screamed at the top of their lung to demand justice only to come on deaf ears. Our legal system is impotent in the face of grave injustice, leading to an unacceptable erosion of people's faith in the justice delivery system and the rule of law itself.

Too often we hear cases how the court and law enforcers treat the poor differently from the rich and the powerful. The court with its system profoundly discriminative, goes after the weak sooner and harder than the have and powerful, metes out harsher punishment to weak defendants and never, ever brings the same measure of mercy to them as to the strong and powerful.They pursue minor criminal charges committed by the elderly all out and indiscriminately and force them to stand on trial despite their failing health. Yet, the same law becomes impotent to bring criminal charges committed by high ranking profiles into court. Graft suspects with immense power walk free with big smile. Convicted corruptors who have emptied the state coffers for their own selfish interest will soon receive clemency.

It is suffice to say that money buys justice and power holds it as hostage. It follows the natural common law that the strong will have the inclination to prey on the weak, the rich on the poor, survival of the fittest.Only a few has courage to defy this 'new normal' and stand firm to uphold justice regardless of wealth, color, gender or creed.

The justice system becomes the prey of hostile powers to accumulate wealth and privilige. It is so frustrating to see this vicious circle.

We feel so exasperated as we become passive spectators of the injustice. We become numb to it since it’s so systematic.  When we think that something can be bought and sold, we end up treating it like a commodity.  Indeed, justice has become a profitable commodity for the rich and powerful. They are above the law in our country, because decisions on prosecuting them are made by politicians, or by prosecutors who have an eye on a political career, and do not want to piss off potential donors to their future campaigns. They enjoy near-absolute impunity. Corruption wasn’t just rampant, it was also almost never investigated or acted upon among these sharks.

Our hope is high when in recent years, a string of high-profile public prosecutions at KPK have targeted the elites, leaving us hopeful that the country’s finally getting serious about targeting graft in the higher echelons of society. Sadly, the flame dwindled away as these sharks are fighting back tooth and nail. One by one, the anti graft profiles are pursued and brought down.

Yet, no matter how bleak and cold the future of corruption fight might be, we must not lose hope. There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. In the case of Asyani, mounting public outcries amplified by the media has been successful to wake up the government to follow up the case closely.

When injustice is displayed so obscenely, people will react. They can not change the law. But in the information and technology era like today, people take to social media to initiate change, to put pressures on the court and law enforcers to uphold justice. Not even seasoned politicians nor public figures want to deal with fiery netizens. Just take a look at the tragic fate of Abraham Lunggana, the city councilor, who is constantly bullied by the netizens! His reputation is ruined, razed to the ground by the fiery flame of the people who resort to the social media.

When our three pillars of democracy fail us, we still have the fourth pillar, the media, as our last resort. It is by far the most effective arsenal to fight injustice, inequality and corrupt practices in this country.

Now the trumpet summons the citizen again -- not as a call to bear arms to seize our freedom from colonialism-- not as a call to battle, though embattled we are -- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation, a struggle against our common enemies:  tyranny,injustice, and corruption.

The strong should protect the weak, the powerful should govern with sense of  justice and morality and the wealthy should help to empower the poor.The efficacy of the judicial system depends on its capacity to deliver justice to all irrespective of their social or economic standing in the society.