Customary laws need place in legal system

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)