Customary laws need place in legal system

JAKARTA (JP): Chief Justice Soerjono said yesterday that the legal system must not overlook the traditional and customary laws observed in rural areas as Indonesia pursues its program of national development.

Soerjono said yesterday that customary laws, which govern local practices and customs in rural areas, are not taken as seriously by the government as the national criminal code, which is a legacy of the Dutch colonial authorities.

"Neglecting adat (customary law) implies a disregard of the people's rights," he said at a seminar sponsored by the Catholic Atmajaya University.

Former finance minister Frans Seda argued that it is senseless to develop the country's economy if the people's awareness of national laws is not improved.

Soerjono said that one of the main problems of raising the people's awareness of law -- especially civil law -- is that the country lacks its own laws.

The chief justice added that the present criminal code was made by the Dutch authorities according to their customs, which are no longer suitable.

Customary laws have long been observed in rural areas and still play an important role in local judicial systems. He added that a number of customary laws could even be incorporated into national laws.

Max Boli Sabon, a lecturer at Atmajaya, said in his paper that in the rural areas of East Flores the local people still rely on customary judges.

"We discovered that a customary judge there handles more than 60 cases a year," Boli said.

He said that the judges in most rural villages are usually also the village chiefs, who also share their authority over local customary courts with other respected public figures such as scholars.

Boli said that local judicial teams usually include tribal chiefs and council chiefs in charge of preserving local tradition.

"They take a decisive role when the village chiefs fail to carry out their judicial tasks," he said.

The lecturer also said that if the customary judges do not support village authorities the latter have a difficult time functioning effectively.

He suggested that the government review the working systems of village administrations, whose leadership is often overshadowed by the power held by customary judges.

Soerjono said that the results of his various studies conducted in 1994 in the regions of Flores were supported by other comparative studies done in West Nusa Tenggara, Lombok, Bali and Java and in Batak and Minangkabau communities. (16)