Court draws criticism for overturning KPPU ruling

Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The court decisions to overturn the ruling of the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) over the Indomobil sale has drawn criticisms from some local legal experts, who blamed the "wrong" decision on the judges's lack of knowledge about the case.

Lawyer Luhut Pangaribuan said last week that he suspected that the judges did not understand much about monopoly practices, which made them incompetent to examine such a case.

"Monopoly is a complex matter, which only experts can understand. It seems that those judges have yet to master it," Luhut told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

"But we also have to understand that for Indonesia's legal system, this (monopoly) is a new thing. We're not yet used to it."

Hikmahanto Juwana, a law professor at the University of Indonesia, concurred, saying the government needed to launch campaigns to improve judges' understanding about all aspects of monopoly to make them more capable of fairly judging monopoly- related cases.

"People still lack understanding about the substance of the anti-monopoly law. Maybe that's why the courts were more concerned with the procedure of the decision made by KPPU, not its substance," Hikmahanto said.

Last week, KPPU experienced a double blow in its efforts to keep fairness in the country's business competition with two courts overturning its decision of the sale of television firm Indomobil.

First, the State Administrative Court granted a plea filed by PT Trimegah Securities against the commission, for declaring the publicly listed company guilty of conspiring in the Indomobil sale process. Trimegah is the leader of the consortium which bought IBRA's 72 percent stake in Indomobil in December last year.

The Administrative Court declared that KPPU had neither the right nor the legal basis to summon Trimegah in the Indomobil sale.

Several days later, the Central Jakarta District Court followed suit, overturning the KPPU ruling on the same case, but this time against Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT) and PT Bhakti Assets Management, both of whom acted as IBRA financial advisors in the Indomobil sale.

KPPU, in its ruling on the case announced in May this year, found irregularities in the Indomobil sale. It therefore ordered all parties involved in the sale, including the three companies, to pay penalties.

But the three filed objections to the courts, saying they had done no wrong in the Indomobil sale.

The double losses in court experienced by KPPU, which was assigned by the Anti-Monopoly Law No. 5/1999 with the noble task of gradually establishing fairer competition in the country and gradually wiping out monopoly practices that have marred the country's business world for decades, was a real shock to the public.

Some members of the public question whether the anti-monopoly law is too weak, especially if a district court can so easily overturn KPPU rulings. Many legal and business experts are now calling for the revision of the law to give stronger legal powers to KPPU.

However, Luhut did not subscribe to this opinion, saying the Anti-Monopoly Law was already good and the KPPU court loss should be blamed on the judges's incompetence or lack of moral integrity.