Don't hire disreputable lawyers, say attorneys
Don't hire disreputable lawyers, say attorneys
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta
Who contributes the most to the corruption of the judiciary in
this country? Is it prosecutors, lawyers or judges?
"All do, including the public and businesspeople who persist
in winning litigation by 'buying' justice," noted lawyer Frans
Hendra Winarta said on Thursday.
Frans, also a member of the National Commission on Legal
Development (KHN), was addressing a workshop on benchmarks for
the recruitment of prosecutors, judges and advocates co-organized
by KHN and Yogyakarta-based legal watchdog, Indonesian Court
Watch.
Human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, who shared the same
platform with Frans at the workshop, asked the public not to hire
"disreputable lawyers", by which he meant those who violated the
lawyers' moral code of ethics by guaranteeing victory for their
clients and who enjoyed a "luxurious" life in their early career
as lawyers.
The Indonesian judiciary has been under close scrutiny by the
international community due to many bribery cases allegedly
involving judges. But so far, none of the legal proceedings has
brought the allegedly corrupt judges to justice.
Justice Mohammad Laica Marzuki said that if lawyers stopped
"contacting" judges, then only 30 percent of the problems
associated with Indonesia's corrupt judiciary would remain to be
solved.
"It means that the remaining problem would be only how to
improve the quality and professionalism of judges," Laica told
the workshop.
UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and
lawyers Dato Param Cumaraswamy completed his mission on Wednesday
with the conclusion that the Indonesian government faced serious
trouble largely due to widespread corruption within the
judiciary.
In a separate interview, National Ombudsman Commission
chairman Antonius Sujata criticized the government for reacting
defensively to Cumaraswamy's sharp comments that Indonesia's
judiciary was among the worst in the world.
"Such reaction was unwise and unhelpful for solving the
problem," he told The Jakarta Post.
As part of the attempts to improve the judiciary, Laica
suggested the establishment of an independent committee to carry
out the recruitment of judges, prosecutors and lawyers.
He argued that under current practice -- where all the tests
are carried out by each respective institution for judges and
prosecutors and the Supreme Court for lawyers -- such tests were
still tainted by corruption, collusion and nepotism.