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| Law Faculty of Universitas Pelita Harapan |
I am writing my last blog post from Indonesia, and just like
that I am wrapping up a life changing experience. This internship was an
incredible avenue for me to learn and practice under the guidance of two
knowledgeable supervisors and advocates. One of the most valuable experiences I had was to observe these
professionals carrying themselves in their day-to-day affairs. This
internship provided me with high quality training and it has enriched my
writing and research skills.
Lippo Karawaci,
Indonesia.
As I explained on my last blog post, the International
Justice Initiative (IJI) is preparing a legal tool kit to serve judges,
lawyers, law enforcement, and civil servants to find relevant provisions for
the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of human trafficking. I was
given the opportunity to conduct comprehensive legal research and summarize
International Conventions. I further helped supervise a team of interns
summarizing domestic laws. These legal summaries will be compiled in the form
of a book and handbook that will be distributed for training. Nonetheless, my
work in Indonesia went beyond research on Human Trafficking Law. IJI often
collaborates with the Indonesian Christian Legal Society (ICLS), an
organization that works to encourage, equip, and support Christian lawyers in a
majority Muslim country. Through my work with ICLS, I was given the opportunity
to have field experience in other kinds of Human Rights Law.
Malang, Indonesia.
For example, I
had the opportunity to collaborate with ICLS in Malang, Indonesia. After a
2-hour flight to the east side of Java, Indonesia, we drove to a women’s prison
where the team met to collaborate with a prison ministry from a church in
Jakarta, Indonesia. The prison ministry went to support Christian inmates who
had been transferred from Jakarta to Malang. ICLS got the opportunity to serve
some of them who needed legal advice. We learned how to serve those who are
spiritually hungry in prisons and at the same time offer legal aid as inmates
navigate a justice system that is weak and costly.
The next day we
made our way to the men’s prison where we met the elder of a church accused of
homicide and sentenced to death. The elder spent 7 years in prison awaiting his
execution date. However, a few months ago another individual confessed to the
crime for which the elder had been convicted. The offender was prosecuted and
convicted; therefore, the elder promptly petitioned the Supreme Court of
Justice to release him. Unfortunately, his petition was denied.
The process to
appeal the decision and obtain acquittal operates through numerous steps and
there is usually long delays between one stage and the next. The main issue is
that the President of Indonesia released the names of 14 people whom will be
soon executed. Four of those have been already executed and no one knows the
names included in the list until the inmates are transferred for execution.
ICLS is seeking domestic and international support to request the President not
to execute this elder -- as it is apparent that he is innocent. I had the
privilege of participating in the pertinent interviews and drafting a letter
requesting international support.
Bromo, Indonesia + Batu, Indonesia
After two days of
intense work in Malang we drove up to Bromo. Bromo is a volcanic mountain
situated in the Tengger caldera and home to the Tengger tribe. In 2015 the
volcano’s dust covered the land, and since then the villagers haven’t been able
to do agriculture work because the plantation was destroyed by the thick dust.
Tourism has been limited as well. This
impacted the tribe’s income and food supply, and the tribes are in desperate
need of attention and support from the government. However, poor management,
corruption, and religious discrimination is affecting the Christian villagers
who receive the little attention, if not are completely ignored. ICLS advocates
are working in the region to bring attention to the Christian groups and to
find funds to buy rice. We conducted
interviews and supported the ICLS team in Bromo. We ended our trip with a visit
to Batu, Indonesia where we met with other lawyers and encouraged them to join
the ICLS team.
Singapore
Finally, I was
asked to go to Singapore and meet with the Mercy Center, an organization
working with women in the red light district of Singapore, and with Hagar, a
legal team that helps investigate and prosecute crimes of human trafficking.
This visit served to enhance my understanding of the “modus operandis” of
perpetrators. They explained that there is a large incidence of Indonesian
victims to sex trafficking in Singapore. Mercy Center suggests that poverty is
one of the primary factors that make victims vulnerable to prostitution and sex
trafficking. And Hagar suggests that the falsification of documents is a
primary factor contributing to the movement of Indonesian victims to Singapore.
As you might
imagine, all of these experiences helped me grow as an individual and as a
professional. Realistically, it will require many blog posts to thoroughly
explain all the experiences I lived through in the past two months.
Nonetheless, I hope these lines help encourage you and remind you that the work
international advocates are doing in Indonesia is not in vain. I will be ever
grateful to those who supported and made possible my participation in this
internship.
As one of the
ICLS advocates stated: “[We want] to inspire young law students and lawyers…to
bring support, and make justice and compassion stand in the darkest of places.”
Kindly, keep of
all of these organizations in your prayers.
For more
information on the work that Mercy Center and Hagar are doing to stop human
trafficking please click on the following links:
For more
information regarding issues regarding death penalty executions in Indonesia
you might be interested to read the following article:
Thank you for
your prayers and support.
This post was written
by a Center for Global Justice student intern.
The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of
Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.
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