Caliph Ali bin Abi Talib met a Judge to convey his accusations and asked the Judge to examine and decide. The judge is a local judge, not a Supreme Court judge.
The accusation: a Zimmi Jew (Jews in state protection) stole his armor. The proof: the armor in the hands of the Jews matches the characteristics of the missing armor of the Caliph.
In short, the Caliph (can be read by the President) Ali and Jews before the Judge and the Jews denied it. The judge asked Caliph Ali to present a witness.
Caliph Ali presented the child and one other person as witnesses. The judge rejected the witness. The reason is that children cannot be witnesses for their fathers and vice versa because they tend to be biased. While one witness cannot be accepted, the law requires two witnesses and the Caliph only has that witness.
Judge’s Verdict: The clothes belonged to the Jews because Caliph Ali could not present a sufficient number of witnesses.
Caliph Ali accepted the verdict. The Jews were surprised and asked how Caliph Ali accepted this decision.
Caliph Ali’s answer awakened and aroused a sense of law abiding in the Jew and he finally admitted that he had indeed stolen from Caliph Ali. What was the answer of the Caliph who brought the awareness of the law: I still believe that it is my armor, however, since the law has decided, then, it’s yours.
The judges are fair and the Caliphs obey the law. All people and events are treated equally before the law. Finally, a society that upholds law and honesty was born. That is the lesson the author took from this incident.
And also, the authors also believe that such conditions were the beginning of the formation of a law-abiding society and a law-order society.
Even further, law enforcers, leaders, and laws like that, whose sense of justice is felt by the community, will not only form a law-order society, it can even bring someone to change religions like the Jews did.
Currently, in Indonesia, the country we love, the public cannot immediately go to court for criminal cases. Criminal cases and events, both complaint and general offenses, reports and their first handling are submitted and carried out to and by the police as law enforcers.
No criminal event will reach the court room unless it begins with non-court law enforcers.
At a certain level, then, the police as law enforcers can be said to be the first ‘judge’ of a criminal incident, both a complaint offense and a general offense.
Even the Police can decide and ‘carry out’ the death penalty even if a person is suspected of committing a violation of the law if certain elements stipulated by law are fulfilled, for example: a person suspected of attacking the Police during the arrest process and so on.
In the author’s opinion, this is where one of the noble duties of the Police lies to build a law-abiding and law-order society.
How the police can create a sense of justice grow and develop in all levels of society through legal events that are being handled by the Police ‘Judge’.
Either because of the upholding of the law against all citizens indiscriminately or for the enforcement of the law on all incidents without any difference in treatment.
The police can develop another sense of creating social order, namely fear. Society does not break the law and obey the law out of fear.
However, the social order which is built on a sense of justice that is felt in the hearts of the people, in the opinion of the author, has a much stronger foundation than fear.
This task is not only noble but also very heavy. Why? Because what is built is taste; a sense of justice, a sense of belonging that grows and develops. Meanwhile, that sense of justice reigns deep in the hearts of hundreds of millions of Indonesians.
And don’t forget the opposite, the scratched sense of justice is no less devastating, not only in a social dimension but also in a spiritual dimension of divinity.
From a social dimension, a sense of injustice will create public distrust of the law and law enforcement: social order is at stake.
From a spiritual perspective (Islam): the feeling of injustice that is felt by one person alone is enough to open the closing boundaries of prayer between that person and Allah SWT, God Almighty, regardless of religion and level of piety.
The prayer of people who feel persecuted and their persecution is justified by Allah SWT, then, immediately, whatever the prayer of a citizen of that country, Allah SWT will grant it instantly.
Especially if more than one person is praying, especially if it’s a group of people, it will be even more powerful. The most amazing thing is if a group of people feels wronged and prays, then the heavenly doors shake because of that prayer and the angels hurry up at the command of Allah SWT to grant the prayer.
The impact of this prayer is not only on unfair law enforcers. However, it is possible to have a broad impact on a country.
In terms of the Law on Public Information Disclosure, justice also has a bright dimension of the process of enforcing legal justice. The legal process was clear, and the treatment for all similar incidents was clear.
So, for that, let us always pray that the police as the first ‘judge’ can always enforce the law fairly to anyone and in any event.
The local wisdom of the Minangkabau people describes it in a wise expression:
tibo di mato indak dipiciangkan, tibo di paruik indak di kampiskan (when the incident in the eye is not narrowed, when the incident in the stomach is not collapsed)
The law is upright and fair to all people and to all events. Long live the rule of law, great Indonesia.
Allahumma aamiin.
*) Hendra J. Kede Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Central Information Commission
