Court issues ruling on class action<\/p>\n
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Amid the wide misperception and rejection of class action
\nlawsuits, the Supreme Court has issued a regulation requiring the
\ndistrict court and judges to accept class action suits filed by
\ngroups who may have been wrongfully victimized in environmental,
\nforestry or consumer protection cases.<\/p>\n
The regulation that took effect April 26, 2002, was issued to
\nfollow up Law No. 23\/1997 on environment, Law No. 8\/1999 on
\nconsumer protection and Law No. 41\/1999 on forestry.<\/p>\n
The regulation allows any group of people victimized by
\nactions, policies or activities carried out by the state or
\nprivate institutions, to file lawsuits through their
\nrepresentatives.<\/p>\n
The updated regulation is meant to provide a more effective
\nmeans for groups in pursing legal action.<\/p>\n
Soeharto (no relation to the former president), a deputy to
\nthe chief justice on civil matters, said that despite its limited
\ncoverage, the regulation allowed a group of people victimized by
\nany policies made by the government and other state institutions
\nand private ones to file a class action suit without fear that
\ntheir lawsuits would be nullified due to the absence of a law on
\nit.<\/p>\n
"Judges at the lower court are obliged to give a positive
\nresponse to cases in the three fields of environment, consumer
\nprotection and forestry. But, any groups of victimized people and
\ntheir representatives must know its legal procedure," he said
\nrecently.<\/p>\n
The ruling also stipulates that judges are obliged to
\ninvestigate and hear class action suits based on violations of
\nthe law with strong material evidence and witnesses. The court's
\nverdicts in class action cases must be announced through the mass
\nmedia to let the group of victimized people know about them.<\/p>\n
"In case of financial compensation, judges must make the
\ndetails of the verdicts public, and must notify the victimized
\npeople for the purpose of the compensation distribution," he
\nsaid, adding that during a trial, the group of plaintiffs would
\nnot be required to attend.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged that lower courts have frequently turned down
\nclass action cases because of the absence of legislation.<\/p>\n
"Only the three laws regulate class action suits," he said,
\nadding that the Supreme Court had no legislative authority to
\nmake the law.<\/p>\n
Class action lawsuits are a new phenomenon in Indonesia --
\nfirst introduced in the late 1990s -- so most people, including
\nthose in the legal profession, are not accustomed to such cases.
\nSo far, 45 cases have been brought to the court but only a few
\nwere accepted.<\/p>\n
Numerous judges have opposed class action suits which are
\nbased on the English Common Law system as inapplicable because
\nthe law in Indonesia is based on the continental or civil law
\nsystem, which does not have a tradition of such lawsuits.<\/p>\n
In March, the Central Jakarta District Court ruled in favor of
\nWardah Hafidz, chairwoman of the Urban Poverty Consortium (UPC),
\nwhen she, along with an alliance of NGOs filed a class action
\nsuit against the Jakarta administration over its failure to cope
\nwith the recent flooding that claimed more than 25 lives and
\ncaused millions of rupiah in material losses to Jakartans.<\/p>\n
The court has also ruled in favor of representatives of a
\ngroup of people who were evicted in a military-backed land
\nclearance operation in several areas of the city.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/court-issues-ruling-on-class-action-1447893297",
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