Although this is obviously a different situation from your question. Unrelated to the above, I do believe
@atlantis has won a case in court in Indonesia, but once again unrelated to the specific question from OP.
You are correct, I won a case but as you stressed it, it was a very different issue than the OP. It was a criminal case where I was (wrongly) accused.
Criminal cases are tricky, but I believe that you can still get your right respected as long as you make sure you keep the case as "discreet" as possible and that you can swim in dirty waters while remaining as clean as possible and not loosing either your temper or sanity.
Often foreigners do a terrible mistake: they believe that giving the maximum publicity to a case, having a flamboyant and well known lawyer and running to the embassy to try to get them involved is the key. Many times it's the reverse of what should be done, imho.
In my case I contacted the embassy to inform them that I was a citizen and that I was involved in a criminal trial but that I did NOT need any form of help from them (something they were very happy to hear). I also hired a couple of very average, cheap and ready-to-do-do-what-I-wanted lawyers and handle the whole thing as discreetly as possible while refusing any of the numerous monetary demand for a "fair" settlement.
Oh God, you can't imagine during the 10 months the whole saga lasted, the pressure "they" have tried to put on me and the number of time "they" have tried to extort me. Even the Ketua Panitera, in front of his whole office and wth no shame, asked the pair of Oakley sunglasses I had and told me he would make my life harder should I refuse. I told him in a very clear way to f*** o** and he kept his promises. Even security officers were trying. Heck! Even the warden accompanying accused from Court to Penitentiary tried, perhaps thinking I'd be a future guest.
Despite this, I focused on the case and proved I wasn't guilty of what was reproached to me.
However, I believe that what has won my acquittal, more than the proofs brought, is the relation I ended having with the judges and the medias. To be honest, in many of the case I have followed or studied, I often had the impression that proofs were secondary. It is undoubtedly the relation I had with the judges which has made the final decision. In this regard, being a "bule" helped me. They obviously enjoyed hearing me speaking bahasa Manado and they weren't missing an occasion to ask me to speak, often entering in a banter with me. It was obvious that, many times questions directed to me were just excuses to hear this funny bule using local expressions. From the first week to the last week, the Court room went from just a few people attending to a Court packed with people... and, more importantly for the judges, with medias. It was good for the judges as well as it was good for me and week after week I moved from the "bad bule" image to the "bule Manado" image. It took me time to realize (and accept) that it is not the legal work I did at the time which won the acquittal but only the fact that I managed to appear sympathetic to the public opinion and judges. I think that even if I would have been guilty I would have won the acquittal this way because I am not under the impression that proofs and testimonies were interesting anyone.
For a civil matter, the issue of a trial is often far less complicate. It often boils down to how well you know the tricks of the game and how much money you can put on the table. This is sad, but this is true. As much as I have an once of truth for criminal court here, I am far more suspicious with civil court. It doesn't mean you can not win but you need to understand that you will certainly have to be dirty.
