AN Indonesian judge by the name of Marzuki was sitting in judgment of an old lady who pleaded guilty of stealing some tapioca from a plantation. In her defence, the old lady admitted to the Judge that she was indeed guilty of the crime because she was poor and her son was sick while her grandchild was hungry.
The plantation manager insisted she be punished as a deterrent to others. The judge going through the documents then looked up and said to the old lady, “I’m sorry but I cannot make any exception to the Law and you must be punished accordingly”. The old lady was fined Rp.1 million (USD 100) and if she could not pay the fine then she would be jailed for 2 1/2 years as demanded by the Law. She wept as she could not pay the fine. The Judge then took her hat and put in Rp.100,000 into the hat and said, “In the name of justice, I fine all present in the Court @ Rp.50,000 (USD 5.50) each as dwellers of this City for letting a child starve until her grandmother is compelled to steal to feed her grandchild. The Registrar will now collect the fines from all present.”
The Court managed to collect Rp 3.5 million (USD 350) including the fine collected from the plantation manager, whereby the fine was paid off and the rest was given to the old lady. What a fine piece of justice: The judge went farther than the crime in front of him, and looked at the huge crime that allowed people to starve driving them to rob.
I wonder who would be fined if Judge Marzuki came as a judge in India? Juvenile and adult rapists who saw the way their fathers treated their mothers and carried the same behaviour onto the streets!
Drivers hitting pedestrians on the roads! But shouldn’t it be police who don’t insist on the public using footpaths, or crossing at zebra crossings? Or a government that allows vendors to take over footpaths, forcing people to walk on roads? Shouldn’t they be fined? Children on drugs? Shouldn’t some parents who think an increase in pocket money makes up for decrease in time spent with their kids, aren’t they guilty?
Or what about some desi old lady, like the one in the story, but instead of tapioca stole onions? Shouldn’t we be asking big questions to a government which is focusing all it’s energy on CAB and Triple Talaq and other dramas instead of concentrating on the economy, bringing the prices of essentials down, and looking after unemployment so that, that old woman doesn’t have to rob? Maybe we need to have a judge exchange between our countries and watch who Marzuki fines. I won’t be surprised if he gets shunted back to his country in a jiffy..!
