Experts favor amending law on judicial power
Experts favor amending law on judicial power
JAKARTA (JP): Two legal experts threw their weight Saturday
behind the Indonesian Judges Association's proposal that the 1970
law on judicial power be amended to make the judiciary more
independent.
Soehardjo S.S., a law professor at the Semarang-based
Diponegoro University, said the law needed amending to keep pace
with development, while Harkristuti Harkrisnowo of the University
of Indonesia hoped that a more conducive atmosphere would support
an independent judiciary.
"There has been a lot of development in fields such as labor,
taxation and trade, to mention a few. So it's no longer
sufficient that the law regulates only four courts of justice,"
Soehardjo said.
Law No. 14 1970 mentions only four courts of law: general,
military, religious and state administrative courts.
Soehardjo said that, in line with a rapidly developing
society, more special courts were needed such as a court to
handle tax cases.
He dismissed the association's idea that the judiciary be
managed by the Supreme Court alone instead of in conjunction with
the Ministry of Justice. He called this proposal "unrealistic."
"The Supreme Court has been burdened with too many technical
jobs already. They cannot afford to handle the administrative
aspects of the judiciary," Soehardjo said.
But Harkristuti said she agreed that "one-roof management" of
the judiciary would be better because it would help establish an
independent judiciary.
"Although the current law states in the first place that it
guarantees judicial independence, it has practical problems," she
said.
Criticism
Like the House of Representatives which has been much
criticized for functioning only as a rubber-stamp institution,
the judicial system has constantly come under attack for its
perceived submissive attitude to the government.
Harkristuti argued that placing the judiciary under one-roof
management would by no means guarantee judges' independence
because independence relied heavily on judges' attitudes and
behavior.
"But still, academically speaking, the government has no
strong argument on why a one-roof management judiciary under the
Supreme Court should be ruled out," she said.
Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman dismissed over the weekend
the idea to put the judiciary under the Supreme Court's
management, arguing that no one could guarantee that it would
improve.
The judicial system has been criticized by many legal experts
who charge that courts mostly decide in favor of the government.
(08)