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Outdated laws have long been come under public scrutiny but only a few have been revised.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