The now seven-month-old pregnant woman, identified as FT, was reported to the police by one of her online shop customers, DW, who is a wife of a one-star military general, according to Uli Pangaribuan, a lawyer from the Legal Aid Foundation of the Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (LBH Apik).

“Unequal power relations between FT and DW, who used her husband’s position as a [military] general, shows DW’s arrogance and power abuse, which influences law enforcement,” said Uli.

FT, 22, was detained in May and is waiting for her court hearing on Aug. 29.

“FT was arrested and taken to Pinang Ranti Police, then moved to Kebayoran Baru, then to Pondok Gede Police for questioning, and then detained at Pondok Bambu [penitentiary],” Uli said on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

FT, who was pregnant with her second child, sold batik clothes through a Facebook account. Among her customers was DW, who ordered 10 items of batik clothing worth Rp 2.5 million and paid in advance. It turned out that FT could not fulfill the order on the designated date. DW gave FT one hour to return her money.

Uli said her client had agreed to return the money. However, DW still reported FT to the police for fraud. Not long after receiving the report, the police arrested and detained FT. 

Uli further said as the disputed money did not exceed Rp 2.5 million, the case should have been settled through mediation mechanism, as regulated in Supreme Court Regulation No. 2/2012, which regulates the boundaries of what constitutes a misdemeanor and the amount of the fine. (gis)

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