Prita Mulyasari
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Prita Mulyasari is an Indonesian housewife and mother of two who in 2008 was a patient at Omni International Hospital in Tangerang, Banten, west of Jakarta, for an illness that was misdiagnosed as dengue fever, whereas she actually had mumps.[1] Her complaints about her misdiagnosis started as a private email that went viral and she was jailed after losing a civil defamation suit taken by the hospital in 2009.
The case highlighted the over-reaction of Indonesian prosecutors when presented with cases being pursued by influential individuals and companies.[2] Due to the proximity of the presidential elections in July 2009, the various candidates either visited Prita Mulyasari in jail or publicly commented on the case.[1][3][4]
Support from a group on MySpace attracted considerable support[5] as well as Indonesian blog sites.[6][7][8][9]
The case brought attention to clauses of the Indonesian Information and Electronic Transaction Law which are currently being challenged and questioned as a result of Prita Mulyasari's case.[6]
Prita was fined Rp204 million (US$20,500), causing support for her to grow stronger. A mailing list and Facebook group called "KOIN UNTUK PRITA" (English: "Coin for Prita")[10] started raising money from people throughout Indonesia. People started collecting coins to help Prita to pay the fine.[11][12] Seeing the huge support for Prita, Omni International Hospital dropped the civil lawsuit.
The Supreme Court of Indonesia in June 2012 overturned Prita's conviction and jail sentence.[13]