This is yet another one of those cases that make people suspect that the rich and powerful in Indonesia enjoy certain “privileges” when it comes to facing the legal system. But it looks like there is a chance that justice may still be served this time after all.
In November, the Jakarta Metro Police gave Fanny Safriansyah AKA Ivan Haz, a current DPR member and son of former Indonesian Vice President Hamzah Haz, what seemed like special treatment after he was accused of beating his 20-year-old maid at home. At the time, the police actually said they’d only investigate the case if they received written permission from the president.
The case has moved at a snail’s pace since then, but today, three whole months after police initially questioned him as a witness, authorities have finally named Ivan a suspect in the case.
“Today we are issuing a letter to IH (Ivan Haz) so that he will be interrogated as a suspect next Tuesday,” said Jakarta Metro Police Spokesman Mohammad Iqbal, as quoted by Okezone.
The police didn’t say if they actually had gotten permission from President Jokowi to move forward with the case. Our naïve side hopes is that that wasn’t the case, since there’s no law that entitles politicians or their offspring to any such privilege.
Ivan Haz’s maid, identified as T, has accused Ivan Haz and his wife of physically abusing her in October of last year, which resulted in several injuries.
Ivan Haz denied that he nor his wife abused T, saying that they did scold her at one point, and that T’s injuries were the result of her falling as she was trying to climb over a high wall in order to escape from the house.
