Tommy v. Secretary General of the Association of Indonesian Micronations

Tommy v. Secretary General of AIM

AIM emblem
Information
Court	AIM High Court
Date	25–29 August 2014
Full name	Tommy N. vs. Secretary General of the Association of Indonesian Micronations
Judge sitting	Tian Abdurrahman
Plaintiff	Tommy N.
Defendant	Rayhan Haikal
Ruling	Rayhan Haikal was found guilty on ruling over his term length expiration
MSLC citation	Tommy v. Secretary General AIM HC 2014 Abdurrahman

Tommy N. v. Secretary General of the Association of Indonesian Micronations (2014), was a case heard by the AIM High Court between 25 until 29 August 2014. The decision invalidated Rayhan Haikal term as the Secretary General for the organisation. It was the first and only case decided by AIM High Court.

The case was heard after Tommy complained on the vagueness of the period term of the Secretary General, as he further accused Rayhan to rule way beyond his designated end of the term. With Tian Abdurrahman as the sole judge to heard the case, Tian later ruled in favour of Tommy and invalidated Rayhan's term as the secretary general on 29 August 2014. The ruling caused leadership vacancy as the organisation failed to fill the position until December 2014.

Background

Rayhan Haikal ascended his position as the Secretary General in July 2013 after the previous leader Adriansyah Yassin Sulaeman was forced to resign in order to start a leadership regeneration. At that time, there were no term limit set for the secretary general position, causing confusion on when the election of the secretary general would be held.

In August 2014, using term length expiration as justification, several member states urged Rayhan to establish a secretary general election, on which he responded passively. At the same time, AIM High Court (Indonesian: Mahkamah Tinggi AIM) was founded, which became the judiciary organ for the organisation. Omahkulon leader Tommy N. then announced in mid-August that he will brought the term length issue to the court, with hope that the court could solve the issue fairly. His decision was applauded by fellow members as the High Court finally had a case to be heard, and the case would provide an opportunity to see the effectiveness of the newly-formed court.

Trial

There were three court sessions opened by the court from 25 until 27 August 2014, with its ruling was read in 29 August. All of those sessions were observed and attended by member states of AIM.

In the first session, plaintiff Tommy N. presented his accusation against Secretary General Rayhan Haikal, and accused him guilty on three charges: ruling over his term length expiration; attempted to ilegally lengthen his term length; and failure to initiate new secretary general election after his term expiration. In the end of the session, Tommy promised to present his evidence supporting his stance on the second session of the court.

As promised on the previous court session, Tommy presented his supporting evidences on the case. Those evidences including transcripts from general assembly session from February 2013, showing that the agreed term length for the secretary general was for only three months, with new election to be held during the end of the period.

Third court session were reserved for the defendant, Secretary General Rayhan Haikal to present his defence against Tommy. On his defence, he first claimed that during his election as the secretary general in March 2013, he was failed to be notified that he was the elected secretary general months after, thus made his first three months (designated term limit period) useless, with him even doesn't know that he was the secratary general. On the next argument, he said that the general assembly had voted on decision to lengthening his term length in March 2014, justifying his position, and thus countering Tommy's argument that his leadership were illegal.

Decision

After three court sessions hearing both sides argument, supreme judge Tian Abdurrahman read his decision concerning on the case in 29 August. On his decision, he decided that Rayhan Haikal was guilty on one charge of ruling over his term limit, yet innocent on two other charges of attempting to unilaterally lengthening term limits and failure to initiate secretary general election.

Tian argued that Rayhan indeed was guilty on his first charge, because the latest decision was to set the term limit on 3 months since appointment, on which Rayhan instead continue to rule for at least 11 months over his term limit. Tian declared Rayhan innocent on the second charge because during his attempt to lengthen his term limit, Rayhan failed to receive support from members, causing it to fail. Tian also decided Rayhan's innocence on the third charge, because that "initiatives also must come from member states, not just from the secretary general".

On his opinion, he also said that Rayhan was indeed ruling over his term limit, by saying that "instead for three months, he instead ruling for fifteen months". He also recommends the general assembly to decide on the term limit, saying that three months period were too short and not ideal for AIM.

Aftermath

After the ruling, Rayhan Haikal as defendant accepted the decision and blame for his mistakes. He also immediately declares his resignation from the secretary general position and apologized to member states inside the General Assembly session. On the same session, member states also proposed new reform inside the organisation, mainly on the ruling of the secretary general term limits.

Intermicronational reactions

The trial conduct was greatly praised by member states. They perceived that the High Court successfully preformed its task, thus consolidated the court as one important institution of AIM. Afterwards, member states declared that they would respect the verdict.

While member state leaders praised the trial, Indokistani politician Mustafa Hakim instead criticised Tian Abdurrahman's ruling. He accused Tian of causing a crisis due to his failure to rule on how a new secretary general succeeding Rayhan should be appointed. Despite of that, he later relented and recognized the ruling, as his home country did, and welcomed Rayhan's decision to step down from AIM leadership.