April 30, 2012
“Are we prepared to take the law into our own hands and break Simon out? Yes. If immigration will not do its job, then Simon’s brothers are ready to come to Indonesia and help him break out.”
For eight years now, David Donaldson, 57, has been trying to free his 26-year-old intellectually impaired son from what can only be described as forced detention. So when told that the ordeal would be over in five months, he was understandably skeptical.
“We are not happy that immigration has given [another] five months for [Simon’s mother] to hang onto Simon,” Donaldson, a New Zealander, told the Jakarta Globe.
“And what treatment is he going to get during these five months that she didn’t give him in the past six years? And then what happens in five months when nothing has changed?”
The story of Simon being chained to a bed by Yuhani Marisa Latinia, 53 — his mother and Donaldson’s ex-wife — has caused outrage in New Zealand. Yuhani has demanded Rp 45 billion ($4.9 million) from her ex-husband for their adult son’s release.
Simon, a New Zealand citizen, is legally an overstayer in Indonesia because his visa expired four years ago. He has been diagnosed with partial complex epilepsy and leukodystrophy, a dysfunction of the brain’s white matter.
Yuhani, who separated from Donaldson in 1992, has kept Simon at her house in Surabaya for the past eight years and refused to allow his father to see him for the past two, even though Donaldson was granted custody of the couple’s five children.
The Donaldson family has sought help from the Surabaya Police and the immigration office to secure Simon’s release. The authorities visited the home last month and saw the young man’s condition for themselves, but reportedly allowed Yuhani to keep him for five more months.
Isnania Singgih, Donaldson’s lawyer, told the Globe that Yuhani had reportedly signed a letter agreeing to hand Simon over after that period, but that neither she nor her client had seen the letter.
Isnania, who visited Simon along with police and immigration officials on March 26, said the young man’s condition had deteriorated significantly from when he was living with his father.
“Simon used to play basketball when he lived with David. But now he can’t walk. He can’t urinate like a normal person,” Isnania said. “And now immigration has given the mother five more months? Yuhani has no medical reports on Simon, even though she said she has been treating him. Why no records?”
Donaldson said Simon had ended up in his mother’s custody when he was 18 because he believed she had a magic cure to treat his illness — but his health had worsened instead.
At first he was supportive, the father said. He initially visited Simon every three months, but stopped four years ago after his son, likely at the behest of Yuhani, accused Donaldson of “selling [Simon’s] soul to the devil.”
“In January this year, I went down to visit but was not granted access. The house was shut and the gate was locked. I rang the house and someone picked up the phone but said nothing. Nobody came out despite yells and banging,” Donaldson said.
All he wants now is for the authorities to release Simon and allow him to get the appropriate medical treatment.
Simon’s sister, Joanna, described her mother as a negative person who stubbed out a cigarette on her hand when she was four years old and said Simon should have been allowed to live a normal life.
The police contend the case is an immigration issue, but the immigration office refuses to comment on it. Nanang Mustofa, the head of the Waru subdistrict immigration office, who took last month’s photos of Simon, said it was “not in my authority” to speak about the case.
Yuhani insisted that Simon should stay with her.
“Immigration has been informed about this condition. I am not kidnapping him. We are curing him,” she told the Globe.
But Donaldson said he would not give up on his son.
“We will not rest until Simon is back where he belongs,” the father said.
( from the JG)
ma 30 apr 2012 - 8:50