"Prita Mulyasari (left) with Megawati Soekarno Putri"Prita Mulyasari was released Wednesday (June, 03 2009), pending her libel trial to be held Thursday (June, 04 2009), with one presidential candidate already weighing in on the public outcry the case has raised. Prita, the consumer who was charged with defamation and detained for posting complaints on the Internet about Omni International Hospital's poor service, was released after the public questioned the need for her detention. She faces her first trial session today at the Tangerang District Court. Her family said the public outcry and public opinion generated sporadically over the web and through the media had led to her release. Carolina Siswopratiwi, Prita's sister, said, "true, the family has fought for justice, but my sister's release was a result of the support showed by journalists, bloggers, the National Commission on Human Rights and many others whom we cannot name one by one. "We are told by our lawyers that although Prita was released, she would not be allowed to leave the city," she said. Earlier Wednesday, presidential candidate and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri visited Prita at the Tangerang women's detention center, while incumbent vice president and presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla, plans to visit her, according to Prita's husband, Andri Nugroho. Anggara, coordinator of the human rights advocacy division of the Association of Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights (PBHI), said the case was just the beginning of a long legal process. "It should be approached cautiously since we do not know if the case might go to the Supreme Court. "The case could become a political commodity." Anggara added that what the public needed to know was which candidates was game enough to promise to remove the defamation articles from the Criminal Code, the Broadcast Law and the law on electronic information and transactions. "Prita's case was a first for the law on electronic information and transactions, and it has already shown the public rejects it, with over 40,000 people supporting Prita on Facebook," he said. In a September 2008 civil lawsuit filed by Omni International Hospital in Tangerang, the court ordered Prita to pay Rp 50 million (US$4,700) of the Rp 400 million compensation demanded by the hospital, as well as apologize in two print media outlets. She now stands accused of violating Article 27 on defamation of the 2008 law on electronic information and transactions. Nezar Patria, chairman of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), said, "We demand the articles of defamation be taken out off the criminal law." The PBHI, the AJI, the Press Legal Aid, the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) and the Indonesian Consumers Foundation, as well as a loose grouping of individual bloggers, released a joint public statement Wednesday saying Prita Mulyasari's detention was a violation of human rights. Together with other organizations, they formed the Committee of Freedom of Expression Advocates on the same day.Tulus Abadi, chairman of the Foundation of the Indonesian Consumers Institution, said, "this sets a bad precedent for consumers, since the right to complain is protected under Law No. 8/1999 on Consumer Protection. "This case has killed consumer's right to complain and created a new fear about being critical," Tulus said.
Author: fmb/bbs/iwp, The Jakarta Post Indonesia Today
