Expert witnesses from the Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Communications and Informatics took the stand on Monday to support the case against individuals arrested for allegedly selling iPads without proper documentation. What came out of the exchange between the defense attorney and the expert witnesses shows the alarming level of care and expertise that these witnesses actually possess. The transcript will seriously bowl you over. You will not believe what was said.

We know this isn’t exactly the sort of thing we cover on our regular blog posts but it’s far too priceless and astounding to be left out of our pages at DailySocial and it is related to the technology industry and ecosystem here in Indonesia as well as showing you some of the kinds of people that work for the government in this industry.

So a bit of a background, a number of individuals had been arrested since 2010 for selling iPads without having the proper documentation and certificate. It is the law in Indonesia to have user manuals made available in Indonesian for consumer goods that are made available for purchase in Indonesia and the products must also have the proper certification from the post and telecommunications directorate general.

Little did the prosecutors and the police know that those documents are actually available for the iPad, just not in printed form. They can be accessed on the web and from within the iPad. Nowhere in the law says that they have to be printed. Regardless, the prosecutors forged ahead with the case, presenting a pair of expert witnesses from the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Communications and Informatics.

The expert witnesses are Subagyo, Expert Staff of Directorate General Post and Telecommunication of the Ministry of Communications and Informatics, and Aman Sinaga, member of the Consumer Empowerment Standardization from the Ministry of Trade. The case had been brought forward partly based on the opinion and analysis of these individuals.

The case had been going on for the past few months and evidence had been mounting against the prosecutor. News site Detik has the transcript of the witnesses being questioned by defense attorney Andi Simangunsong on Monday and we are providing you with the English translation as close as possible to the original transcript.

Andi Simangunsong: Have you ever seen an iPad?

Aman Sinaga: Yes. But I have never used it. However, I’ve seen my nephew [use it], yes.

Andi: Have you ever tinkered with your nephew’s iPad?

Aman: No.

Andi: Did you know that there is a menu selection for Indonesian in the iPad?

Aman: I have never seen it because I have never used it. I only see it from the functionality aspect of it. There’s a calculator, game, a camera. It can act as a television because there is a tuner inside. You can use it to make phone calls too because there is a telephone SIM card slot.

Andi: Did you know that there is an Indonesian user manual that if printed out can look like this? (Andi asked while holding a 209 page printout of the downloaded manual from Apple’s website)

Aman: I did not. This is the first time I have seen it.

 

The exchange between Simangunsong and Subagyo is as follows:

Andi: Have you ever seen an iPad used as a telephone?

Subagyo: I have. A friend had been using the iPad to make phone calls. I forgot his name. I have seen him activate the telephone function. That’s because there is a slot for the phone card [SIM card -Ed]

Andi: Ever since it came out, can the iPad be used as a telephone?

Subagyo: If there’s a communications compnent then yes. It has 3G, wifi, and bluetooth.

Andi: Do you know the features of the iPad?

Subagyo: I do not. I have never purchased one.

On Subagyo’s defense, the iPad can certainly be used as a telephone using voice over IP technology such as Skype and the iPad 2 has video call capability. A jailbreak hack is required to turn the iPad into an actual phone.

 

The judge also asked Subagyo the following:

Judge: Samsung also released a similar device. What is it called?

Subagyo: I am not a makeshift expert. The only known one is the iPad.

Judge: Yes but Samsung also released [such a device] didn’t it?

Subagyo: Everybody can make a touch screen. There are many kinds of iPads. The difference is if it’s Chinese made like Samsung, it uses Android. iPad uses Apple.

Seeing his witnesses backed into a corner, prosecutor Samadi tried to interrupt the proceeding.

“The questions are no longer suitable for the field of the witnesses. These are expert witnesses, not usage witnesses.

The court is adjourned until next Wednesday for more witnesses.

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