400 old laws to be revised

400 old laws to be revised

BANDUNG, West Java (JP): The government plans to revise 400
laws made during the Dutch colonial era because they are no
longer suitable, an official says.

Chief of the Agency for National Legal Development Sunaryati
Hartono said on Saturday the laws would still be used until
substitutes are ready.

The laws include gubernatorial decrees dating back to the
period of the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration between
1945 and 1950.

"The laws are used simply because there are no alternatives,"
she said in a seminar at the Parahiyangan University. She added
that some laws might be scrapped, amended or replaced so as to
fit the current need.

Outdated laws have long been come under public scrutiny but
only a few have been revised.

Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman conceded last week that
"many" Indonesian laws needed revising because they no longer
conformed with current demand for justice and legal certainty.

Sunaryati said that many prevailing laws, passed either during
the colonial era or after it, run foul with public interests
largely because the law makers failed to consult with local
experts during the drafting process.

The law makers only paid attention to legal systems in other
countries but lack knowledge of local society, she said.

"They generally learn only from foreign reference books and
rarely do they study those written by local experts. When a law
is passed, they are surprised to learn that people reject it,"
she said.(pet/pan)