Prita's ordeal began after she emailed colleagues complaining about the poor service she received at Omni International Hospital in Tangerang. The email circulated from one mailing list to another before the hospital management eventually discovered it.

Regarding the email as libel, the hospital sued Prita and, after a series of court hearings, the mother of two was imprisoned for 21 days. Locked in her cell with a dozen other inmates. Prita was unaware that news of her imprisonment had spread through the media, on blogs and on social websites, and that the public was up in arms and on her side. During the election campaign period, presidential hopefuls rushed to help her; the case was dismissed in July.

But the prosecutors continued to pursue other charges. As the hospital had also charged her with defamation based on provisions in the electronic information and transaction law, the court ordered her to pay Rp 204 million (US$21,800) in damages.

On seeing the verdict, a number of members of the mailing list "Sehat Group" (Healthy Group) launched the "Koin Peduli Prita" (Coins for Prita) campaign to help her pay the fine. The group began collecting coins on Dec. 4 and will continue until Dec. 14.

Volunteers began collecting coins from donors from all walks of life, ranging from children to adults, and from young executives to trash-pickers.

Dicky Darwis, a coordinator for the Tebet (South Jakarta) branch of Sehat Group, said he became interested in Prita's cause after his 10-year-old son Fauzam repeatedly asked him about her case. Both father and son found information about Prita online, which is not surprising given that Dicky uses Facebook games to teach his fifth-grade son mathematics.

"Fauzam kept asking why Prita had been arrested and why people were collecting coins for her," Dicky said. "After I explained the case to him, he decided to donate his entire savings - all the coins he had collected since he was in second grade - to her cause. I don't know how much was in his piggybank, but I will donate the lot."

Many people have asked Dicky for a bank account number that can be used to transfer funds to help Prita. As one aim of the cause is to involve as many people as possible, it is focusing on coins. However, he added, should people living abroad wish to help Prita, they can contribute via PayPal.

"I think it would cause a ruckus if we just showed up and unloaded all these coins in the hospital's front yard," he said, laughing.

The voluntary movement has grown beyond Jakarta, receiving support in several cities across the archipelago, including Samarinda in East Kalimantan, Palembang in South Sumatra, Banda Aceh in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, as well as in Yogyakarta and Bali. Updates on the movement can be seen at www.koinkeadilan.com.

In Surakarta, Central Java, drivers of intercity buses also took part in the collection campaign.

Wiku Baskoro, a club coordinator of Tobucil bookstore in Bandung, West Java, also part of the campaign, estimated that by Thursday he had received at least Rp 2.5 million in coins, which he planned to deliver to Jakarta on Saturday.

"The donors vary from schoolboys to porridge vendors," Wiku said. "Prita's case is on TV - that's why everybody knows about it and feels an affinity with her."

Ari "Ajo" Juliano Gema, a volunteer for the cause, said the Coins for Prita campaign began out of solidarity and to raise public awareness of problems within Indonesia's legal system.

Public solidarity for Prita is an example of cohesion not unlike the one that united Internet users as part of the campaign known as "1 million Facebookers to support the two Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leaders Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah".

University of Indonesia sociology professor Thamrin Amal Tomagola said the movement indicated that the number of people accessing information through digital media had increased significantly, especially among the middle class.

According to data from the Communications and Information Ministry, the number of Internet users in Indonesia had increased from 2 million in 2000 to 25 million in June 2009.

"In Prita's case, people are aware that the legal system tends to side with the powerful and crush the weak into pieces. This is a message of solidarity. *The public* can see themselves in Prita. They have been a silent majority all this time," Thamrin said.

"We have to improve this situation and put a stop to these attempts to impoverish people. We should put businesses and civil society in the front line, with the government simply becoming spectators."

Thamrin said the solidarity movement was ingrained in Indonesia's traditions, with people used to donating coins to mosques and orphanages.

"The coin itself is the perfect symbolic representation, because coins are usually considered *as a small token*, just like the grassroots. I hope the movement continues to receive coins because bigger donations would spoil the sincerity of the coins," he said.

As the campaign was only taking coin donations, people from all economic classes could contribute to the cause, Ajo said.

As of Thursday, the amount collected at one of the coin-collection posts (Ragunan, South Jakarta) had reached Rp 119 million, an amount expected to increase by the Dec. 14 deadline.

Amid the sounds of the clinking coins collected by volunteers, Omni International Hospital has agreed to drop its civil suit against Prita Mulyasari if she agrees to the terms of settlement the Health Ministry proposed during their mediation. This proposal contains several points, including that both parties "demonstrate respect and forgive each other".

Prita has said she will return the coins to the movement's initiators so that the money can be used to help others experiencing injustice in dealing with the legal system.

"Since we have no capacity to manage the money, we will give all the coins to Prita and let her appoint the institution she trusts most," Ajo said.

The coin movement may or may not reach its targeted amount, but as they say, it's the thought that counts.

For more stories on the growing trend of cyber resistance, read the January issue of The WEEKENDER, out this week

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