Legal Eagles

Young people in one low-income Jakarta neighborhood were once all too familiar with uncomfortable brushes with the law. Now they are brushing up on their legal knowledge and finding careers. Isabel Esterman reports.

In some parts of Klender, East Jakarta, the streets are so narrow you can reach out from one house and touch the house opposite. Corrugated tin roofs crowd the skyline, improvised second stories leaning precariously. The narrow roads keep cars out, and chickens roam the streets freely, scattering before the occasional motorbike.

Nothing can be done about the overripe smell wafting up from the Cipinang creek, which runs black with the effluent from factories upstream. But the streets are clean, potted plants crowd every available surface, and children run or play chess under the watchful eyes of their neighbors.

The neighborhood can be fun for kids, but it turns stifling once they get a little older. In October 2008, parts of the neighborhood were evicted to build a dual-track railway for trains heading to Central Java. Further evictions are planned for 2011, to tear down buildings illegally close to the creek. Another round is slated for 2014. Residents expect their neighborhood will disappear, leaving its young people with little hope for the future.

“The youths here, most of the time they just hang around,” says local resident Firdaus, 21. “There’s nothing to do.”

Some teenagers get into fights with gangs from other neighborhoods. Others drift into drugs or trouble with the police.

Firdaus, along with 13 other young men and women from the neighborhood, has found another way to rise above it all – studying law. In December 2008, while most of them were still in high school, they joined a Community Legal Aid Institute (LBHM) program designed to train members of marginalized communities as paralegals.

The program was established to teach them how to advocate for their own rights, without depending too heavily on access to pro-bono lawyers, says program director Ricky Gunawan.

“We want these people to be the alarm system within their communities,” he says, to take immediate action against any abuse instead of waiting for lawyers to sweep in like firefighters after the neighborhood is already ablaze.

“We came up with this idea to empower people and boost their potential by training them on various legal issues.”

Initially, the LBHM planned to train neighborhood women. “But the women decided they had too many other things to do,” Ricky says.

Overwhelmed with childcare and household chores, the neighborhood women suggested the LBHM offer to train the youths hanging around the neighborhood.

“Kids this age are very unstable,” says local resident Sutidjah, 59. “They need assistance. If they know about the law, they’ll be less likely to commit crimes.”

Ricky found the neighborhood kids very eager to take part in the training – and not just because they were bored.

“They’ve long been underestimated by the elders in this community, so they want to prove they can do something positive for the community,” he says.

To Firdaus, the value of understanding the law is clear.

“Our state is based on laws. Many people are oppressed because they don’t understand how those laws work.”

In his neighborhood, he sees this kind of oppression on a daily basis.

“Police will point to an article in the law, but misinterpret the meaning,” he says. “People can be slapped with serious charges, even if they only committed very minor offenses.”

By bullying suspects, police can extort large sums of money. “In Jakarta there’s always extortion. The law now is always about money,” Firdaus says.

“We always start with the issues of police force, arrest, detention, seizure and so forth, because these are very common issues faced by the people,” says Ricky.

From there, they discuss labor laws, gender issues and domestic violence. The young people who show the most zeal for the lessons are invited to participate in more intensive workshops, culminating with what Ricky describes as a “bar exam”, a final test on the concepts covered in the lessons.

“I was very nervous,” says Firdaus, who compares the feeling to the stress of taking the national high school exams. “But I’m happy I now understand the law, and I’d like to understand more.”

On March 21, 2009, the 14 Klender youths who passed the exam were officially inaugurated as paralegals at a formal graduation ceremony, along with paralegals from other parts of Jakarta.

“It was the first time I was ever up on a stage in front of so many people, in the spotlight,” says 20-year-old Indra. “I don’t know how to describe it. I liked it, I was happy, everything all mixed together.”

Indonesia has no formal certification for paralegals, but the LBHM issues paralegal ID cards to its graduates, and the mandate to serve as advocates for their communities.

“We have strict criteria,” Ricky says. “And we believe in their abilities.”

The young paralegals in Klender have already had the chance to assist their community.

“We had a kid in the neighborhood who was accused of stealing a motorbike,” Indra says. “Turns out he was just joyriding around the neighborhood. He wasn’t taking it anywhere.”

Indra helped the boy’s parents report the case to the LBHM and accompanied them throughout the trial. Eventually the young man was given a year in prison – relatively light for a crime that can carry a sentence of five to seven years.

Even after the verdict, Indra remains committed to the family. “I accompany his mother regularly to visit him in prison,” he says.

The paralegals have also served as a valuable resource for other organizations. Last year, when the University of Indonesia’s Center for Women and Gender Studies held workshops on women’s rights and domestic violence in a neighboring area, the paralegals were on hand to offer both legal knowledge and intimate familiarity with local social problems.

“There are many benefits for myself and also for other people,” says Indra. “I can share, and help transform people who didn’t understand the law into people who do.”

Despite her skepticism about today’s youths, Sutidjah can’t help but agree. “They really can help us,” she says.

In the Know

The Community Legal Aid Institute (LBHM) has provided legal aid training for about 200 people, certifying 41 as community paralegals. These paralegals serve on a volunteer basis, often even paying out of pocket for transportation and other expenses.

The program was inspired by a fishing community in Kali Adem, North Jakarta. LBHM lawyers had been working with the community since a 2003 eviction, and were seeking additional ways to help community members protect their own rights. After much discussion, they held intensive paralegal training workshops in October 2008, working mostly with people over 40. Because most people in the community were illiterate, the LBHM had to rely on face-to-face assessments for this batch of paralegals.

The workshops in Klender started after the LBHM was put in charge of organizing a commemoration for the International Day Against Torture on June 26, 2008. During the 1998 riots, some 400 people were trapped inside a burning department store in Klender, many of them neighborhood residents. People in the area had been in contact with human rights NGOs and expressed interest in beginning community discussions with the LBHM. Initially, the LBHM planned to train local women, who in turn recommended they focus on youths. Training began in December 2008, when most of the participants were still in high school.

A third initiative began with drug users across Jakarta, also following the 2008 Day Against Torture. Drug users are frequently subject to arrest and abuse, and have little access to legal assistance. The LBHM trained users and recovering addicts, mostly between 25 and 35 years old, to advocate for their friends.

The LBHM has also trained young people at an informal school at a bus terminal in Depok, south of Jakarta. Most of the paralegals here are between 20 and 25 years old, and the workshops have focused on education, labor and women’s rights laws.

The LBHM plans to continue expanding the program to members of other marginalized groups. It is currently reaching out to people living with AIDS, intravenous drug users, sex workers, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups. Community discussions are planned for June to October this year, with paralegal training to begin in October.

More information about the Community Legal Aid Institute is available at lbhmasyarakat.org.

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