Neil Bantleman, right, and teaching assistant Ferdinant Tjiong, left, raise their hands as they stand with lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea, centre, after they were released from Cipinang prison on August 14. Photo: AFP
After being found guilty in a sexual abuse criminal case that many observers said was rife with serious procedural problems, last week Jakarta Intercultural School teachers Neil Bantleman and Ferdinant Tjiong were freed after a decision by the Jakarta High Court overturned the guilty verdict rendered by the South Jakarta District Court.
Bantleman and Tjiong’s families and supporters, were overjoyed by the decision and international observers took it as a sign that Indonesia’s legal system was willing to correct its mistakes.
But one group who is obviously not happy with the guilty verdict being overturned are the parents of the children who they accused the two teachers of abusing. One of them, an Indonesian who is currently living in the Netherlands with her child, spoke out to the media and said the ruling made her question her country.
“If it’s going to be like this, I better renounce my nationality,” said the woman on Friday, as quoted by Tempo. “We’ve already been victimized.”
The woman said she was living in the Netherlands to help her child psychologically recover from the abuse. She said she wondered how the High Court could be so different to the South Jakarta District Court’s verdict.
“Does that mean they think me or my child lying? For what reason?” she asked, adding that she hopes the prosecution appeals the High Court’s decision.
The High Court’s decision came after a Singaporean court found one of the parents in the sex abuse case guilty of defamation for making unsubstantiated accusations against the JIS teachers and the school, as well as the dismissal of a $125 million civil case against the school that many observers believed was the true motivation behind the whole affair.
