T

he Tangerang Court in Banten rejected on Tuesday a lawsuit filed by minimart company Alfamart against the Public Information Commission (KIP) and Mustolih Siradj, a customer who previously demanded access to a report of the company’s customer donations collected from small change.

Mustolih filed a complaint to the KIP last year after learning that PT Sumber Alfaria Trijaya, through its minimart chains, often asked customers to donate small change ranging from Rp 100 (0.01 US cent) to Rp 500 without elaborating on where the money would be channeled to.

According to Tangerang Court’s panel of judges, an institution like the KIP cannot be involved in such a lawsuit. Furthermore, they did not discuss the KIP’s demand toward PT Sumber Alfaria Trijaya to disclose Alfamart customer donation records. In addition to rejecting the lawsuit, the judges also ordered the plaintiff to cover the case fee of Rp 506,000.

The company’s attorney, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, expressed demur toward the verdict. “If the KIP cannot be sued, [the commission’s] decision is arbitrary,” said Yusril as quoted by tempo.co. “The verdict did not address the substance [of the trial]. This was not a win for Mustolih.”