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. Rasyid Amrullah Rajasa, a 22-year-old reckless driving defendant, has requested the panel of judges to free him as the legal process is jeopardizing his studies.

Rasyid, the youngest son of Coordinating Economic Minister and National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Hatta Rajasa, repeatedly said during a plea reading session at the East Jakarta Court on Thursday that his studies at the University of East London would be at stake should he have to be present at legal proceedings any longer.

Rasyid, who has two semesters left in his studies, said his leave period was running out and he could be expelled if he failed to fulfill his academic requirements.

“[Getting expelled] would end my chance to make my parents proud and happy. I also really want to dedicate myself to the nation that I love so much,” he said.

“I am begging the judges to hand down a fair verdict.”

State prosecutors previously demanded that the East Jakarta District Court sentence Rasyid to eight months in prison and fine him Rp 12 million (US$1,200), in addition to a year of probation.

The sentence is lighter than the maximum penalty of six years’ imprisonment stipulated in the 2009 Traffic and Transportation Law, which the prosecutors have used to charge him.

The accident occurred when Rasyid’s BMW X5 rear-ended a Daihatsu Luxio minivan on the Jakarta inner-city toll road on New Year’s Day. The force of the impact caused five of the minivan’s passengers to fall out of the vehicle and onto the road.

Two of the Luxio passengers — Harun, 57, and M. Raihan, 14 months — were killed in the accident, while three others, Enung, Ripal Mandala Putra and Supriyati, sustained minor injuries.

Rasyid said in his plea that he and his family had financially compensated the victims and their families, and promised to pay for Ripal’s education through college. “We have become like relatives now,” he said.

Rasyid also said that he had suffered from deep psychological trauma since the accident.

Rasyid’s lawyers, who also delivered a separate plea, asked the panel of judges to free Rasyid because the prosecutors had failed to prove a direct connection between Rasyid’s action and the deaths and injuries of the victims.

“The back seat of the minivan, altered into two rows of seats facing each other and parallel to the minivan’s body, was not safe for passengers,” he said. (cor)