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Young Author Draws Online Support for ‘Nonsensical’ Case Against Her Mother
Jakarta Globe | February 10, 2011

Alanda Kariza, right, with her mother. The teenaged  activist who published her first book at the age of 14 has launched an emotional online plea after prosecutors recommended a 10-year-jail term for her mother, a former senior Bank Century employee. (Photo source: Alandakariza.com) Alanda Kariza, right, with her mother. The teenaged activist who published her first book at the age of 14 has launched an emotional online plea after prosecutors recommended a 10-year-jail term for her mother, a former senior Bank Century employee. (Photo source: Alandakariza.com)
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The Indonesian online community is abuzz over the emotional plea of a teenage activist over the 10-year-jail term sought by prosecutors for her mother, a former senior Bank Century employee.

Alanda Kariza, 18, a teen novelist, activist and Indonesian ambassador at the Guildford Forum Global Changemakers in England in 2009, has become the nation’s latest cause celebre after prosecutors demanded the lengthy jail term for her mother, Arga Tirta Kirana, the former head of Century’s legal corporate division.

“Mother is alleged to have been involved in the disbursement of a number of problematic credits, dubbed ‘command credits’ because the funds were withdrawn without the required procedures,” Alanda wrote on her personal blog. “A number of credits were withdrawn without mother’s signature as the head of the legal corporate division. It doesn’t make sense.”

She alleged that the command credits were based on the orders of two men who have since been convicted in connection to the Bank Century scandal, Robert Tantular and Hermanus Hasan Muslim.

“The two men have been detained and, I think, the case should have been finished. Mother was only a witness in their cases because the credits were withdrawn because of their orders, not her’s. My question is, why was mother named a suspect? Nonsense.”

Statements of support for Alanda and her mother were making the rounds among Twitter users on Wednesday.

Kezia Nathania (@kezianathania) said, “Gayus [Tambunan] is imprisoned for seven years and gets Rp 300 million [$33,000] fine. Alanda’s mother’s verdict is 10 years and Rp 1 billion fine. I think this is unreasonable.”

Lanny Andina (@Enonk) wrote: “May the law in Indonesia be on the side of the oppressed.” Alanda, a student at Bina Nusantara University, said she was shocked when her mother was named a suspect and “shattered” when the prosecution demanded a 10-year jail term on Jan. 25.

She said her mother did not deserve to be jailed for sentences longer than those of Tantular, a former Century co-owner who is serving a nine-year sentence for bank fraud, and infamous former taxman Gayus Tambunan, sentenced to seven years in jail.

She added that all of her achievements had been made on behalf of Indonesia, “the same Indonesia which has shattered all of my dreams.”

But Nur Rochmat, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said on Wednesday that the sentencing demand reflected what the prosecution had uncovered during the trial. “The jail term recommended by prosecutors is based on testimonies by witnesses and the defendant, the evidence and the facts uncovered during the trial,” he said.

Alanda, the oldest of three, is a noted figure among Indonesian youth and teen-lit readers.

In 2007 she published her first novel, “Mint Chocolate Chips,” at the age of 14 and is one of the founders of “The Cure for Tomorrow” social community, an environmental group.