City runs short on full-time lawyers for the poor

JAKARTA (JP): The city needs more legal aid organizations with full-time lawyers for poor people, a lawyer said over the weekend.

Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, the former head of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), said there were several legal aid offices offering low cost or free legal services but none of them had enough full-time lawyers.

Nursyahbani now leads the Legal Aid Office of the Association of Indonesian Women for Justice (LBH-APIK)

"When clients seek help the lawyers are often busy working elsewhere," she said.

Nursyahbani was commenting on yesterday's presentation of cases received by the Jakarta Legal Aid Office.

Of 1,083 cases received during the year, 47 percent or 508 cases concerned divorce, inheritance and other family matters, and environmental issues. Figures for specific types of cases are not yet available.

A lawyer at LBH Jakarta, Apong Herlina, said LBH had tried to work with other legal aid offices but clients came back to them.

"The other organizations asked for payment" which clients could not afford, Apong said.

There are no official records on the number of legal aid offices in greater Jakarta.

Among professional legal aid offices for family matters, Nursyahbani referred to the Legal Aid Office for Women and the Family in South Jakarta.

"But this office targets the middle class," Nursyahbani said. Consultation fees are Rp 10,000 for the first hour.

LBH Jakarta sets clients' charges after assessing their financial situation.

Another low cost legal aid offices is LBH Kowani, owned by the largest non-government women's organization, the Congress of Indonesian Women (Kowani).

Others are LBH Kosgoro, run by a Golkar-affiliated organization and one former vice president Sudharmono set up which offers legal aid to poor people.

In May, topnotch lawyers from the Indonesian Bar Association, set up a free legal aid office on Jl. Majapahit, West Jakarta. It is called the Lembaga Keadilan Indonesia (Indonesian Justice Institute).

Nursyahbani said her office, which is in an industrial area bordering East Jakarta and Bogor, was also flooded with labor complaints.

Since it was set up in January, LBH-APIK has received about 90 cases. Fifty-four cases involved family issues and 22 concerned domestic violence.

Nursyahbani said the lack of low cost legal aid was one of many problems. Another was the strict legalistic approach to cases.

In domestic violence cases, for instance, lawyers' sensitivity is needed to understand how society views women, she said

Lawyers should help highlight all aspects of the legal system which hamper justice seekers, such as judges hinting that they can be bribed. (anr)