Beacon

These past few weeks have been different. I had to make a difficult decision. One that involved someone else's life and liberty. So many variables and no senior to offer sound advice. Then again, you can't take your client's word as the gospel truth. But talking to him, part of me believed in his innocence.

Far away from his family and friends, accused of drug trafficking. All he did was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was even in the country legally, running from the devastation of the Aceh tsunami. He had a good case to fight, but the variables involved made me doubt his chances of acquittal. That's right, in a system such as this, I had my doubts after what I've seen. Shocking things.

Things are different now, and not in a good way. What I have come to expect is the unexpected. So I advised him to take the deal. It was a very good deal though. I got a call late one evening a month ago, just as I was about to leave the office. If all goes well, he has another 12 months to serve. But then he gets deported. Back to nothing. Family? I just hope I did the right thing. He was happy. But he was in such a world of trouble, anything else was a lifesaver. Literally. Plus it was a guarantee to stay away from the hangman's noose.

This was a series of events that led to this moment. I have to live with the decision I made, and move on. But my faith in the criminal justice system has wavered. Charging someone when the case is not strong is one thing, but saying "Let the court decide" is just plain irresponsible. This is someone's life you're playing with. We're talking about a capital offence case here. Playing "chicken" is fine for them; if they lose, they just shrug it off and say it was a bad case anyway. But if things were to go the other way (which they most often do), well gosh darn, that's one more statistic they can rack up to their name. "He was guilty anyway, I'm sure of it". What a wretched way to see things.

A couple of weeks ago, an olde man was charged for causing hurt with a parang. He was sitting in the dock with the others, at the end, just staring blankly into space. The other guy was bleeding in the head. Sounds simple enough, right? What wasn't read by the person making the decision to charge (in the Investigation Papers) was that the accused had found his (much younger) wife in bed with this other man. Another legal officer conducting the prosecution immediately withdrew the charge. This is a classic case where it simply does not benefit the public interest to charge that olde man. Allah bless that legal officer who did the right thing.

So here I am. I really wasn't sure what would happen to him if he had claimed trial, and I guess I just didn't have enough faith on the system. Maybe I need to talk to someone. Maybe I need to talk to someone different. Like just yesterday, a friend of mine told me that everytime he feels so demotivated, he calls his mentor/boss up and spends time with them. It gives him the positive energy he needs. Hmmm. Something to think about.

I just hope he's alright in prison for the remainder of his sentence. And that he survives the 3 strokes he has to suffer, as a first offender. May Allah grant him a better life now.