Akbar acquittal raises doubts over prospects for judicial reform

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Judicial reform will face additional challenges following the controversial acquittal of House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung on corruption charges, legal observers said.

Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, a member of the National Law Commission, said on Tuesday the political will of top leaders was a major requirement for judicial reform.

"I personally think political will is the major condition for judicial reform, which must be accompanied by a commitment on the part of law enforcers to support reform," Harkristuti said after a discussion on the prospects of judicial reform held by the Indonesia-Japan Forum.

Harkristuti referred to the fact that Akbar, who chairs the Golkar Party, is planning a run for the presidency this year.

"This situation is very critical (for judicial reform). We must do our best to ensure that judicial reform in the Supreme Court, the Attorney General's Office and the National Police moves in the right direction," she said.

Indonesia will hold a legislative election in April and a presidential election in July.

A series of surveys indicate that a significant number of voters support the Golkar Party, the political vehicle of the New Order regime.

Golkar is seen as the main challenger to the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which according to senior member Kwik Kian Gie is also struggling with corruption.

The head of the Judiciary Independency Advocation Institute, Rifqi S. Assegaf, who is actively assisting the Supreme Court's reform efforts, said he was pessimistic about the future of judicial reform following Akbar's acquittal.

However, he believes there was no direct political intervention in the Supreme Court's decision to acquit Akbar.

"There is always political intervention with the Attorney General's Office and the National Police because they are part of the government, but that supposedly is not the case with the Supreme Court because the law guarantees its independence," Rifqi said.

The government, he said, could only interfere with the Supreme Court by manipulating its annual budget. But, Rifqi said, that was unlikely.

Saying that both the Attorney General's Office and the National Police faced greater challenges than the Supreme Court in implementing internal reforms, he said the biggest challenge facing the court was how to improve the dignity of the justices.

"They had been undermined for years, and now they have to develop their dignity as members of the court," Rifqi said.

He said the prospects for reform in the Supreme Court lay in the hands of its leadership.

"The Supreme Court is lucky enough to have open-minded leadership that welcomes assistance from other institutions and the public," Rifqi said.

This is similar to the view of Harkristuti, who said improving law enforcement institutions was largely up to the leaders of the institutions, particularly considering Indonesia's patriarchal society.

"Law enforcers here always follow the actions of their leaders. Whatever the leaders do, they will follow suit. If the leaders do good, law enforcers will follow, and vice versa," she said.