Music
MAHER: In this age of terror, the law and politics are on a collision course, and nowhere more so than in Indonesia. Supporters of the radical Muslim cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, take to the streets to protest his innocence.
In Australia, this man is reviled as the mastermind behind the Bali terrorist attack.
Bashir: Islam teaches about moral strength and physical strength. For the jihad you need to defend yourself thats Islam.
MAHER: But Bashirs lawyers insist theres not nearly enough evidence to keep him in his Jakarta gaol cell.
Music
MAHER: As the high stakes battle to capture and convict terrorists is waged, there are fears fundamental legal principles are being cast aside.
Music
MAHER: On the other side of the world, at Cambridge University, learned dons have been teaching law since the 13th century, and it was to these hallowed halls that Budiman Sudjatmiko came to reflect on the fate Indonesian justice dealt him.
BUDIMAN: I started to respect liberty more than I ever imagined because being in prison,
youve got lessons that liberty is the main purpose for everybody to live a better life.
MAHER: Sentenced in 1997 by Soeharto's courts to thirteen and a half years on subversion charges, only the dictators fall saved Budiman from serving his full gaol term. Now an aspiring politician, Budimans story is the story of a legal systems dark past and its far from certain future.
BUDIMAN: This democratic transition could fail could fail
if there is a process of decaying committed by those people who are dreaming of aspiring to restore the old order.
Music
BUDIMAN: What the hell s going on here in my country, because I arrived a few days ago from U.K. and when I heard about this bomb I was shocked by the reality about my country.
Music
MAHER: While Budiman has been away, terrorism has cast a bloody swathe through his country. In the past two years alone, there have been three major bomb attacks in Indonesia in Bali at Jakartas Marriott Hotel, and now against the Australian Embassy.
As police sift through the carnage for evidence, not far away, in the capitals Supreme Court the very judges who may have to assess this evidence are being sworn in. The Chief Justice administering the oaths has a gargantuan task. The Indonesian judiciary is renowned for being among the worlds most corrupt. Its a fact Chief Justice Bagir Manan doesnt attempt to hide.
CHIEF JUSTICE BAGIR MANAN: I do not know exactly what the percentage is of bribery but I do recognise that there are some bribery in the judiciary.
I do recognise that some of these judges do not have so good integrity and we try to take action to turn this.
MAHER: Some of the leading lawyers who appear before Bagir Manans brother judges are even more direct. Indonesians best-known defence counsel is Adnan Buyung Nasution.Maher: What percentage
of cases do you think are decided as a result of money having changed hands?
NASUTION: Thats hard to say, yeah if you look at percentage.
MAHER: More than fifty percent? More than sixty percent?
NASUTION: I would say perhaps seventy to eighty per cent this is.
MAHER: Is corruption worse now then it was under the Soeharto era?
NASUTION: Yeah getting worse and worse because this is the how you say, the biggest sin of Soeharto, if I may use that word -- he legitimised corruption.
MAHER: And one of the many who fell prey to this corruption was Budiman Sudjatmiko.
Budiman: We are prepared for the worst even for the death penalty!
MAHER: The charge of subversion he faced back in 1997 was as cynical as it was trumped up. As for the trial, it was a farce.
JUDGE AT SUDJATMIKOS TRIAL: You do not have to stay and listen to the court -- but you must respect the Indonesian system.
MAHER: In the very same courtroom Budiman Sudjatmiko was tried in, another showcase trial is underway. The editor of the countrys leading newsweekly, Tempo Magazine, has been charged with criminal defamation and faces a gaol term.
Bambang: Just how concerned are you that you could be sent away to gaol today?
BAMBANG: Well Im more concerned that if that is the decision, it will be marking the end of our democracy.
MAHER: How confident are you that the Indonesian judiciary is capable of delivering you justice, because theres been a lot of criticism of the judiciary, saying its corrupt.
BAMBANG: There is more possibility of intervention from non-legal forces, and here --you saw it for yourself -- we have people outside, clearly rent-a-mob people, trying to make sure that I go to gaol. They are a commercial rent-a-mob, not really people of Indonesia who care about our democracy.
MAHER: The people outside are supporters of Tommy Winata, the Soeharto era crony who with the help of government prosecutors, has brought the case. The offending Tempo article delved into Winatos business affairs.
Back in court, defence lawyer Mulya Lubis sounds anything but optimistic about the outcome for his client and the media. MULYA LUBIS: Well since 1998, yeah, we
enjoyed press freedom yeah? Which we did not have under Soeharto regime and now the press freedoms under attack and this is a systematic attempt to kill the freedom of the press.
MAHER: The judges find Bambang Harimurti guilty and sentence him to one year in prison.Amid the pandemonium, the Tempo editor says he will appeal the courts verdict.
HARYMURTI: Its a sad day for our democracy in Indonesia, because the judge who has a golden opportunity to be noted in our history as a, the judges who reform our law, decided not to use this golden opportunity and instead want to give us, to bring us back to the dark ages of repressive government.
HARYMURTI: We are going to fight this with the law! Do you agree?
CROWD: Yes!
HARYMURTI: Dont let this make you feel weak or lessen your spirit in doing your duty as journalists.
MAHER: Locked inside Jakartas Cipinan prison, the same prison Budiman Sudjatmiko was held in, is Abu Bakar Bashir. His case, like Tempos, is also capturing headlines, but when it comes to trying terrorists, the Indonesian legal system is faring much better. Weve been given permission to film the Muslim cleric charged with masterminding a series of bombings as he meets his lawyers.
ABU BAKAR BASHIR: Well, this point here is already clear that we have to be wary of the Jews. So all Muslims who will fight for, defend and practise Islam have to be told to calculate, to be careful of exploitation from the Jews, in terms of their use of violence, of course.
MAHER: Bahshir is drafting a statement condemning the bombing of the Australian Embassy, but his sympathy for the perpetrators is clear.
ABU BAKAR BASHIR: I condemn the bombing of the embassy because there was so many Muslim victims. Their intentions to defend Islam everywhere -- and their target to strike America -- thats the best kind of intention. Thats what we have to support. But the method of the bombings is what we dont agree with. Thats what we condemn -- and thats why I say that they are not really terrorists -- they are holy fighters.
MAHER: Bashir is being kept in prison on criminal charges relating to the Bali bombing. Adnan Wirawan, his lawyer, argues his clients continued incarceration could be put down to international pressure.
WIRAWAN: Word out on the streets say that Abu Bakar Bashir is going to be kept locked up, no matter what, so were not dealing with the law anymore. Were dealing with the international pressures about their belief on Abu Bakar Bashir. So no matter what, hes going to be there either for traffic violations, either for immigration violations, anything, anything hes going to be kept locked up.
MAHER: Melbourne Universitys Professor Tim Lindsey knows the Indonesian legal system back to front. Despite the bombing attacks, he continues to return to Jakarta to help train Indonesian judges and lawyers. While hes not calling for Abu Bakar Bashirs release, he agrees with Adnan Wirawan that the Indonesian justice system is now under intense international pressure.TIM LINDSEY: There is huge pressure internationally on Indonesia, particularly from the United States.
I think that we are seeing a judicial system thats emerging. Its finding its way towards rule of law and trias politica, the separation of powers to use the Indonesian term, really being pressured at a critical moment.
MAHER: Its pressure that defence lawyer Wirawan says hes feeling as well.WIRAWAN: I am placed you know as an enemy. Thats the kind of place that I have. I have pressure you know, cynical comments from my neighbours, you know? From my wifes friends. Im no different to any other lawyers in this world
and Im not different with any other lawyers in Australia. My role there is to be, to protect the law, to uphold the law and to provide maximum defence for the accused provided by the law.
Music
MAHER: The countrys constitutional court recently ruled that Bali bombing convictions obtained under the new anti-terror laws were invalid because they were retrospective. There are now fears in the west that the verdict means the bombers will get off.
WIRAWAN: Were there to lodge the appeal on behalf of the Bali bomber offenders, because we believe we are there to protect the Constitution. It is the supreme law of the land, which this has bigger interest than just the Bali victim, OK? I just feel that in the past they used the wrong law to convict him and Im here to correct that wrong applications of the law.
LINDSEY: Theres nothing at all to stop the Bali bombers being charged in the meantime with all the other hundreds of offences theyve committed murder, equivalent of assault, arson, destruction of property. The list of charges is enormous and were now seeing that the police and the prosecutors are moving towards compiling the dossiers necessary to lay these charges against Abu Bakar Bashir and the others.
I dont think we should see the difficulties in the Constitutional Court decision or in working through a new court process as something that will mean that the Bali bombers will escape justice.
Music
MAHER: Whats more, theres a strong view among Indonesias legal fraternity that when it comes to handling terrorist trials, it might just be doing a better job than in courts elsewhere.
NASUTION: We learn from America all the principles of justice, of rule of law, the due process of law, and the protection of human rights. Yet America is now the number one gross violator of these principles. Look at how they treated the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay.
LINDSEY: At least in Indonesia the terrorists get an open transparent trial that is reported widely and nobody disputes the way the evidence has been dealt with and the outcomes are fair. Theres no suggestion anywhere, in any media outlets or amongst any commentators, or any observers, that the trial of the Bali bombers was anything other than fair and reasonable and thorough. Remarkably thorough. Now at least they get a trial. They dont get that in Guantanamo Bay until now, and what sort of a trial are they going to get.
Yeah, its deeply hypocritical for Americans to say Indonesias not handling terrorism effectively in its courts when they wont give their own terrorists detainees trials, when they wont release witnesses to give evidence in those trials. Its bizarre.
MAHER: The Tempo case and the terrorist trials reflect the Herculean struggle now underway for justice in Indonesia. The forces of entrenched corruption are pitted against those who advocate reform and transparency. Although a General in the Soeharto regime, the countrys President elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says hes with the reformers.
PRESIDENT ELECT: What I have to do is to review all the process. I should not intervene in the legal process, because politics cannot enter in that arena, but I have to make sure that everything is done properly, fairly based on the supremacy of law.
MAHER: And the man touted as the next Attorney General, none other than Tempo defence lawyer Mulya Lubis, is already foreshadowing how he might tackle one of the new governments most important jobs. MULYA LUBIS: Indonesia is known as one of the most corrupt nations in the world
and yet you know very few corrupt people go to court so I think we need to do that. We need to bring, you know big fish, quote unquote, to the court and send them to gaol.
MAHER: Well the biggest fish of all of course is the former President Soeharto, should he be brought before a court?
MULYA LUBIS: Well, I think everyone here in this country is equal before the law. No one is above the law. If his, you know, health condition allow us to bring him to court then there shouldnt be any reason not to do that.
MAHER: But there are few Indonesians who believe Soeharto will ever be brought to court, least at all the rising political star who was incarcerated in the dictators gaols. Finally, after his years in prison and studying overseas, Budiman Sudjatmiko is back with his family.
Budiman: Dont push her! This is my mother! Dont you remember how your mother carried you for nine months?
MAHER: And for the first time is watching the medias reports on his trial. The anger and raw emotions are now gone and in their place is a more reflective man.BUDIMAN SUDJATMIKO: Im quite proud that I contributed
one thing to this process of democratisation in this country -- and its very worth it, very worth it and I am proud being a part of this process of democratisation.
MAHER: But when it comes to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the government he promises will advance the cause of legal reform in Indonesia, Budiman shows flashes of the old firebrand.
BUDIMAN SUDJATMIKO: I think hes a liar, because actually change only started on 21st May 1998 when Soeharto stepped down, and during that time, Yudhoyono is on the side of Soehartos regime -- not on the side of the democratic movement.
MAHER: Indonesias democratic movement has made significant strides since Budiman Sudjatmiko was gaoled seven years ago but unless the rule of law and due process take root, the struggles of the past will come to nought.
Reporter: Michael MaherCamera: David AndersonEditor: Garth ThomasResearch: Ake Prihantari, Ari WuryantamaProducer: Ian Altschwager
MAHER: In this age of terror, the law and politics are on a collision course, and nowhere more so than in Indonesia. Supporters of the radical Muslim cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, take to the streets to protest his innocence.
In Australia, this man is reviled as the mastermind behind the Bali terrorist attack.
Bashir: Islam teaches about moral strength and physical strength. For the jihad you need to defend yourself thats Islam.
MAHER: But Bashirs lawyers insist theres not nearly enough evidence to keep him in his Jakarta gaol cell.
Music
MAHER: As the high stakes battle to capture and convict terrorists is waged, there are fears fundamental legal principles are being cast aside.
Music
MAHER: On the other side of the world, at Cambridge University, learned dons have been teaching law since the 13th century, and it was to these hallowed halls that Budiman Sudjatmiko came to reflect on the fate Indonesian justice dealt him.
BUDIMAN: I started to respect liberty more than I ever imagined because being in prison,
youve got lessons that liberty is the main purpose for everybody to live a better life.
MAHER: Sentenced in 1997 by Soeharto's courts to thirteen and a half years on subversion charges, only the dictators fall saved Budiman from serving his full gaol term. Now an aspiring politician, Budimans story is the story of a legal systems dark past and its far from certain future.
BUDIMAN: This democratic transition could fail could fail
if there is a process of decaying committed by those people who are dreaming of aspiring to restore the old order.
Music
BUDIMAN: What the hell s going on here in my country, because I arrived a few days ago from U.K. and when I heard about this bomb I was shocked by the reality about my country.
Music
MAHER: While Budiman has been away, terrorism has cast a bloody swathe through his country. In the past two years alone, there have been three major bomb attacks in Indonesia in Bali at Jakartas Marriott Hotel, and now against the Australian Embassy.
As police sift through the carnage for evidence, not far away, in the capitals Supreme Court the very judges who may have to assess this evidence are being sworn in. The Chief Justice administering the oaths has a gargantuan task. The Indonesian judiciary is renowned for being among the worlds most corrupt. Its a fact Chief Justice Bagir Manan doesnt attempt to hide.
CHIEF JUSTICE BAGIR MANAN: I do not know exactly what the percentage is of bribery but I do recognise that there are some bribery in the judiciary.
I do recognise that some of these judges do not have so good integrity and we try to take action to turn this.
MAHER: Some of the leading lawyers who appear before Bagir Manans brother judges are even more direct. Indonesians best-known defence counsel is Adnan Buyung Nasution.Maher: What percentage
of cases do you think are decided as a result of money having changed hands?
NASUTION: Thats hard to say, yeah if you look at percentage.
MAHER: More than fifty percent? More than sixty percent?
NASUTION: I would say perhaps seventy to eighty per cent this is.
MAHER: Is corruption worse now then it was under the Soeharto era?
NASUTION: Yeah getting worse and worse because this is the how you say, the biggest sin of Soeharto, if I may use that word -- he legitimised corruption.
MAHER: And one of the many who fell prey to this corruption was Budiman Sudjatmiko.
Budiman: We are prepared for the worst even for the death penalty!
MAHER: The charge of subversion he faced back in 1997 was as cynical as it was trumped up. As for the trial, it was a farce.
JUDGE AT SUDJATMIKOS TRIAL: You do not have to stay and listen to the court -- but you must respect the Indonesian system.
MAHER: In the very same courtroom Budiman Sudjatmiko was tried in, another showcase trial is underway. The editor of the countrys leading newsweekly, Tempo Magazine, has been charged with criminal defamation and faces a gaol term.
Bambang: Just how concerned are you that you could be sent away to gaol today?
BAMBANG: Well Im more concerned that if that is the decision, it will be marking the end of our democracy.
MAHER: How confident are you that the Indonesian judiciary is capable of delivering you justice, because theres been a lot of criticism of the judiciary, saying its corrupt.
BAMBANG: There is more possibility of intervention from non-legal forces, and here --you saw it for yourself -- we have people outside, clearly rent-a-mob people, trying to make sure that I go to gaol. They are a commercial rent-a-mob, not really people of Indonesia who care about our democracy.
MAHER: The people outside are supporters of Tommy Winata, the Soeharto era crony who with the help of government prosecutors, has brought the case. The offending Tempo article delved into Winatos business affairs.
Back in court, defence lawyer Mulya Lubis sounds anything but optimistic about the outcome for his client and the media. MULYA LUBIS: Well since 1998, yeah, we
enjoyed press freedom yeah? Which we did not have under Soeharto regime and now the press freedoms under attack and this is a systematic attempt to kill the freedom of the press.
MAHER: The judges find Bambang Harimurti guilty and sentence him to one year in prison.Amid the pandemonium, the Tempo editor says he will appeal the courts verdict.
HARYMURTI: Its a sad day for our democracy in Indonesia, because the judge who has a golden opportunity to be noted in our history as a, the judges who reform our law, decided not to use this golden opportunity and instead want to give us, to bring us back to the dark ages of repressive government.
HARYMURTI: We are going to fight this with the law! Do you agree?
CROWD: Yes!
HARYMURTI: Dont let this make you feel weak or lessen your spirit in doing your duty as journalists.
MAHER: Locked inside Jakartas Cipinan prison, the same prison Budiman Sudjatmiko was held in, is Abu Bakar Bashir. His case, like Tempos, is also capturing headlines, but when it comes to trying terrorists, the Indonesian legal system is faring much better. Weve been given permission to film the Muslim cleric charged with masterminding a series of bombings as he meets his lawyers.
ABU BAKAR BASHIR: Well, this point here is already clear that we have to be wary of the Jews. So all Muslims who will fight for, defend and practise Islam have to be told to calculate, to be careful of exploitation from the Jews, in terms of their use of violence, of course.
MAHER: Bahshir is drafting a statement condemning the bombing of the Australian Embassy, but his sympathy for the perpetrators is clear.
ABU BAKAR BASHIR: I condemn the bombing of the embassy because there was so many Muslim victims. Their intentions to defend Islam everywhere -- and their target to strike America -- thats the best kind of intention. Thats what we have to support. But the method of the bombings is what we dont agree with. Thats what we condemn -- and thats why I say that they are not really terrorists -- they are holy fighters.
MAHER: Bashir is being kept in prison on criminal charges relating to the Bali bombing. Adnan Wirawan, his lawyer, argues his clients continued incarceration could be put down to international pressure.
WIRAWAN: Word out on the streets say that Abu Bakar Bashir is going to be kept locked up, no matter what, so were not dealing with the law anymore. Were dealing with the international pressures about their belief on Abu Bakar Bashir. So no matter what, hes going to be there either for traffic violations, either for immigration violations, anything, anything hes going to be kept locked up.
MAHER: Melbourne Universitys Professor Tim Lindsey knows the Indonesian legal system back to front. Despite the bombing attacks, he continues to return to Jakarta to help train Indonesian judges and lawyers. While hes not calling for Abu Bakar Bashirs release, he agrees with Adnan Wirawan that the Indonesian justice system is now under intense international pressure.TIM LINDSEY: There is huge pressure internationally on Indonesia, particularly from the United States.
I think that we are seeing a judicial system thats emerging. Its finding its way towards rule of law and trias politica, the separation of powers to use the Indonesian term, really being pressured at a critical moment.
MAHER: Its pressure that defence lawyer Wirawan says hes feeling as well.WIRAWAN: I am placed you know as an enemy. Thats the kind of place that I have. I have pressure you know, cynical comments from my neighbours, you know? From my wifes friends. Im no different to any other lawyers in this world
and Im not different with any other lawyers in Australia. My role there is to be, to protect the law, to uphold the law and to provide maximum defence for the accused provided by the law.
Music
MAHER: The countrys constitutional court recently ruled that Bali bombing convictions obtained under the new anti-terror laws were invalid because they were retrospective. There are now fears in the west that the verdict means the bombers will get off.
WIRAWAN: Were there to lodge the appeal on behalf of the Bali bomber offenders, because we believe we are there to protect the Constitution. It is the supreme law of the land, which this has bigger interest than just the Bali victim, OK? I just feel that in the past they used the wrong law to convict him and Im here to correct that wrong applications of the law.
LINDSEY: Theres nothing at all to stop the Bali bombers being charged in the meantime with all the other hundreds of offences theyve committed murder, equivalent of assault, arson, destruction of property. The list of charges is enormous and were now seeing that the police and the prosecutors are moving towards compiling the dossiers necessary to lay these charges against Abu Bakar Bashir and the others.
I dont think we should see the difficulties in the Constitutional Court decision or in working through a new court process as something that will mean that the Bali bombers will escape justice.
Music
MAHER: Whats more, theres a strong view among Indonesias legal fraternity that when it comes to handling terrorist trials, it might just be doing a better job than in courts elsewhere.
NASUTION: We learn from America all the principles of justice, of rule of law, the due process of law, and the protection of human rights. Yet America is now the number one gross violator of these principles. Look at how they treated the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay.
LINDSEY: At least in Indonesia the terrorists get an open transparent trial that is reported widely and nobody disputes the way the evidence has been dealt with and the outcomes are fair. Theres no suggestion anywhere, in any media outlets or amongst any commentators, or any observers, that the trial of the Bali bombers was anything other than fair and reasonable and thorough. Remarkably thorough. Now at least they get a trial. They dont get that in Guantanamo Bay until now, and what sort of a trial are they going to get.
Yeah, its deeply hypocritical for Americans to say Indonesias not handling terrorism effectively in its courts when they wont give their own terrorists detainees trials, when they wont release witnesses to give evidence in those trials. Its bizarre.
MAHER: The Tempo case and the terrorist trials reflect the Herculean struggle now underway for justice in Indonesia. The forces of entrenched corruption are pitted against those who advocate reform and transparency. Although a General in the Soeharto regime, the countrys President elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says hes with the reformers.
PRESIDENT ELECT: What I have to do is to review all the process. I should not intervene in the legal process, because politics cannot enter in that arena, but I have to make sure that everything is done properly, fairly based on the supremacy of law.
MAHER: And the man touted as the next Attorney General, none other than Tempo defence lawyer Mulya Lubis, is already foreshadowing how he might tackle one of the new governments most important jobs. MULYA LUBIS: Indonesia is known as one of the most corrupt nations in the world
and yet you know very few corrupt people go to court so I think we need to do that. We need to bring, you know big fish, quote unquote, to the court and send them to gaol.
MAHER: Well the biggest fish of all of course is the former President Soeharto, should he be brought before a court?
MULYA LUBIS: Well, I think everyone here in this country is equal before the law. No one is above the law. If his, you know, health condition allow us to bring him to court then there shouldnt be any reason not to do that.
MAHER: But there are few Indonesians who believe Soeharto will ever be brought to court, least at all the rising political star who was incarcerated in the dictators gaols. Finally, after his years in prison and studying overseas, Budiman Sudjatmiko is back with his family.
Budiman: Dont push her! This is my mother! Dont you remember how your mother carried you for nine months?
MAHER: And for the first time is watching the medias reports on his trial. The anger and raw emotions are now gone and in their place is a more reflective man.BUDIMAN SUDJATMIKO: Im quite proud that I contributed
one thing to this process of democratisation in this country -- and its very worth it, very worth it and I am proud being a part of this process of democratisation.
MAHER: But when it comes to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the government he promises will advance the cause of legal reform in Indonesia, Budiman shows flashes of the old firebrand.
BUDIMAN SUDJATMIKO: I think hes a liar, because actually change only started on 21st May 1998 when Soeharto stepped down, and during that time, Yudhoyono is on the side of Soehartos regime -- not on the side of the democratic movement.
MAHER: Indonesias democratic movement has made significant strides since Budiman Sudjatmiko was gaoled seven years ago but unless the rule of law and due process take root, the struggles of the past will come to nought.
Reporter: Michael MaherCamera: David AndersonEditor: Garth ThomasResearch: Ake Prihantari, Ari WuryantamaProducer: Ian Altschwager