Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Lilies Lindawati is keeping to a pledge to settle the score with those who publicly humiliated her by branding her a prostitute.
The 34-year-old pregnant wife of an elementary school teacher, who was arrested on the street by public order officers enforcing a prostitution bylaw, has filed suit against Tangerang Mayor Wahidin Halim at Tangerang District Court.
"The suit was filed at the court on May 1. We will begin proceedings if the two parties fail to reach an amicable settlement through mediation," judge Pastra Yosep Ziraluo, who will preside over the trial, said Monday.
Pastra said his fellow members of the panel of judges – Permadi Widiyatno and Bambang Irawan – have asked Lilies' attorney and the plaintiff to try to reach an out-of-court settlement.
Lilies' lawyer Yulianto told The Jakarta Post that his client was the victim of wrongful arrest and suffered public humiliation from being labeled a prostitute. The former restaurant worker is demanding Rp 500 million (about US$53,000) compensation from the mayor for material and other losses.
The resident of Dadap district was picked up along with 26 other women by public order officers while waiting on the sidewalk for a public minivan on Feb. 27. The women were held overnight before being tried in a misdemeanor trial held in public.
The trial, with no defense lawyers accompanying the women, were held at city hall in conjunction with the celebration of the municipality's 13th anniversary.
Lilies, who repeatedly protested her innocence, could not show her identity card nor she could present her husband or members of her family to testify on her behalf. Lilies argues she did not possess a cellular phone to call her husband, and the public order officers assumed she was a sex worker merely because she had makeup in her bag.
Judge Barmen Sinurat dismissed her explanation and fined her Rp 300,000. She was held in custody because she could not pay the fine and was released three days later.
Wahidin responded to the suit by saying it was her right to claim she was innocent and pursue the matter through legal channels. "This is the risk that we face as a consequence of the implementation of the government's function," he told the Post.
Despite mounting criticism of what some consider a morality crusade, Wahidin also said he would continue pursuing his vision of clearing Tangerang of the sale of alcohol, prostitution as well as other social vices.
"We will go ahead and punish all offenders," he said. "The regulations is not of my own making, but merely the wish of the people, as represented by the municipal council." The municipal council endorsed the contentious 2005 bylaw on Nov. 21 last year.
A coalition of several non-governmental groups, Kantif, has filed a request for judicial review of the ordinance in the Supreme Court.
Separately, head of the municipal administration legal department Erlan Rusnarlan said he could not comment on the lawsuit filed by Lilies because he was "busy preparing answers to the judicial review request as ordered by the Supreme Court".