The Case Of Grandma Asyani And Seven Batang Jati: Portrait Of Buram In Indonesian Law

Asyani's grandmother asked when she attended the trial at the Situbondo District Court. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The law is actually able to provide certainty, benefit, and justice. However, law enforcement in Indonesia often deviates. Justice is like expensive goods. Law is seriously enforced in cases of the small people only.

Take the case of a grandmother named Asyani. He is accused of stealing seven teak logs belonging to Perhutani Situbondo. The charges made him tried and sentenced him to one year in prison. The Indonesian side condemned the decision that should have been completed at the village head level. No more.

Indonesian legal portraits often get a sharp spotlight. The legal phrase is sharp downwards, blunt upwards dominate. This phrase represents the conscience of many people who think that the law only dares to face small people with micro-only matters. That's what Asyani faced.

The grandmother from Situbondo is considered to have stolen seven teak logs belonging to Perhutani Situbondo. Asyani also avoided the accusation. He has his own story and is supported by the resident where he lives in Jatibedeng Village, Situbondo.

In the past, Asyani and her husband, Sumardi, had an inheritance of 700 square meters. The land was then planted with teak and palawija trees. However, problems arose. The necessities of life made Asyani and her husband sell inheritance land and cut down teak trees in their gardens in 2009.

Some of it was sold, some of which were kept with 15 wooden boards. Grief also approached Asyani. Her husband died by leaving a lot of debt of care. As a result, the only house was also sold.

Village officials also placed Asyani in a house where the former victim of the flood was Dusun Crystal. Asyani also tried to connect her life by becoming a massager. The profession was able to make the kitchen bulge. Even though he only gets Rp10 thousand per person.

His massage business is growing. However, Asyani began to need a new massage dip. Asyani's teak was also used to form a craftsman named Sucipto in 2014. In fact, it invited the authorities.

The Sucipto house was visited by the authorities. Asyani's teak wood was confiscated. Asyani as the owner of the wood could not show the wood documents. As a result, Asyani was detained and accused of stealing Perhutani's illegal logging wood.

At first Asyani wanted to ask for the wood back. However, the police instead asked the old woman to show the wood ownership document. Because Asyani did not have the document, the police accused the grandmother of stealing Perhutani's wood.

Five months later, on December 15, 2014, the police detained Asyani, Ruslan (Asyani's son), Abdus Salam (the owner of a wooden transport car), and Sucipto. The case continues, since early January, Supriyono and his friends from the Nusantara Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Situbondo have been defenders of the four suspects, "said Yulliawati and David Priyasidhastra in a report in Tempo magazine entitledKayu Jati at Asyani's House (2015).

Asyani was arrested on charges of stealing seven teak sticks belonging to Perhutani Situbondo. The detention made the case get the attention of the Indonesian people. People are busy supporting Asyani to be released -- promoting restorative justice. Moreover, her age has reached 63 years in 2015.

This wish was ignored. Asyani's case was even tried at the Situbondo District Court. Asyani is accused of stealing illegal logging. Asyani remains with the statement that the teak she uses is hers. Not stealing belonging to Perhutani.

Asyani's team of attorneys then began presenting witnesses to people in Asyani village. They gave information in their interest. The public prosecutor insisted demanding that Asyani be sentenced to 1 year in prison with an probationary period of 18 months, as well as a fine of Rp. 500 million, subsidiary to one day in prison.

The demand angered the public. They thought the matter should be finished at the village head level, not in court. Support for the suspension of detention also emerged from everywhere. The Regent and Deputy Regent of Situbondo, Dadang Wigiarto and Rahmad are like that. Both tried to be collateral.

The suspension of detention was indeed granted on April 16, 2015. However, the court process continues. The general assembly is willing to replace Asyani to serve her sentence if she is found guilty. Malang cannot be rejected.

The Situbondo District Court later convicted Asyani on April 23, 2015. Asyani was sentenced to one year in prison and a probationary period of 15 months. The decision was indeed less than the demands of the public prosecutor. Aru protested.

The panel of judges is considered to use horse glasses in imposing sentences. The panel of judges is considered to have only heard Perhutani's confession, without hearing the testimony of a person who is in the same village as Asyani. The portrait of Grandma Asyani's case is also one of the blurry portraits of Indonesian law.

The judge pounced on all the bait proposed by the prosecutor. "We are all attorneys, of course, very sorry. The statements of these witnesses prove that no one knows that Asiani's grandmother stole Perhutani wood," said Asyani's attorney, Supriono, quoted on the CNN Indonesia page, April 23, 2015.