What happened at Tangerang District Court early this week has disturbed many people and touched their sense of justice. A 14-year-old shoe-shining boy vomited and passed out just before attending a court hearing on charges of gambling that threatened him and nine other boys, including an eight-year-old, with five years' imprisonment.
The hearing on Monday, however, was the climax of the show after weeks of marathon questioning sessions for their minor crime (if it could be considered a crime). The children were accused of illegal gambling for playing a game of heads-or-tails, involving Rp 1,000 (some 10 US cents) as the stake, within the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport compound.
"You've been found guilty of gambling on a game of heads-or-tails at the airport without permission from the airport authorities. But, you don't have to serve the jail terms because you are on conditional release and can return to your parents. However, you will all remain under the supervision of the social welfare agency until you are no longer minors," Chief Judge Retno Pudyaningtias said.
Although the panel of judges freed the boys from jail terms, the lengthy legal process - their arrest, detention, weeks of court hearings and now being found guilty - will leave scars on the children's memories for life.
We strongly deplore this move by law enforcers against the children, who had to face a lengthy legal process because of a petty crime. Was it really necessary to treat these children as "criminals", instead of giving them proper supervision or education?
It is true that Law No. 23/2002 on child protection stipulates the possible legal charges against minors, but according to the law, "criminalizing" children, for example by arresting, detaining or jailing them, should only be used as a last means and to protect them from the further involvement in crimes such as those they have already committed.
Furthermore, we believe the law includes and recommends such legal measures against minors only if they have been involved in serious crimes like terrorism, murder, robbery or torture - but surely not for tossing a coin.
It is regrettable that these children were treated in this way, especially since their parents, the state, the public and other related parties have been unable to fulfill their basic needs -proven by the fact that many were involved in child labor such as shoe-shining, trafficking, begging and other odd jobs.
Therefore, we share the opinion of Rizky Gunawan, the defense lawyer of the children, who objected to the ruling and appealed to Banten High Court with the expectation that the higher court will acquit them from all charges.
Notably, in the case of the convicted children, it is certain that their working as shoe shiners and being involved in the game of heads-or-tails at the airport was for the most part not done out of choice. As the children said, they did it because they wanted to help their parents, who were mostly poor and marginalized citizens.
Therefore, we hope that policy makers in this country are willing to open their eyes wide enough to see there are many such children in this country who need help because of the unfortunate circumstances of their parents.
The writer is a journalist at The Jakarta Post.
