Twitter atweet with sympathy for Bank Century defendant’s daughter

The outpour of an Indonesian girl’s grief on her private web blog about her mother facing legal charges for the latter's alleged involvement in the Bank Century bailout case became a major topic on Twitter on Wednesday, prompting a wave of sympathy from her followers.

Alanda Kariza’s entry on her weblog http://alandakariza.com/ expressed her sorrow over the 10-year sentence demanded by prosecutors for her mother for her alleged involvement in the controversial bailout, which swallowed Rp 6.7 trillion of tax payers' money.

She said in the entry that she was baffled as to why her mother, who is the head of the Corporate Legal Divison of one of the bank’s branches, was facing 10 years in prison despite that, according to her, she had played almost no role in the case, while graft convict Gayus H. Tambunan had been sentenced to only seven years.

“Ibu was accused of being involved in the granting of several troubled credits, dubbed ‘commando credits’ because they can be granted without having to go through the usual procedures. Some of the credits are granted without her signature. All credits should have had her signature…yes, it doesn’t make sense,” Alanda’s entry read.

She said that the ones behind the faulty credits were guilty and not her mother.

The entry became a trendy topic on Twitter on Wednesday. Responding to the feedback, Alanda wrote on her Twitter account, “It’s almost 2 a.m. now... yet my friends and even strangers keep tweeting & showing their support. Thank you for the prayers & help…”

The blog entry was also posted on newswire Kompas.com.

However, some were critical of the support for Alanda.

“It’s stupid if people demand the mother of #Alanda to be released merely due to pity after reading her touching blog [weblog] without understanding the legal facts,” one Twitter feed said.