Government seeking to unite lawyers into one association

Government seeking to unite lawyers into one association

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Soedjono Chanafiah Atmonegoro
urged Minister of Justice Muladi yesterday to attempt to unite
disparate groups of lawyers into a single unified association.

"It should be the justice minister's homework to facilitate
the establishment of a single association for lawyers," Soedjono
told the media after meeting with President Soeharto at his Jl.
Cendana residence in Central Jakarta.

He said a unified association would facilitate supervision and
communication with lawyers.

A single association for every profession is mandated by 1985
legislation on mass organizations. For example, the government
recognizes only one association of journalists -- the Indonesian
Journalists Association -- and one labor union, the Federation of
All-Indonesia Workers Union.

Uniting lawyers has proven to be more difficult. Some analysts
have attributed the problems to divergence of interests of many
people in the government.

The first attempt at uniting the various lawyers organizations
was in 1985 with the establishment of the Indonesian Bar
Association (Ikadin), which came about at the initiative of the
then chief justice and minister of justice.

It was ultimately beset by internal disputes and, five years
later, 135 of its 850 members resigned to form a rival
organization, the Indonesian Advocates' Association (AAI), with
the blessing of the minister of justice of the time.

Previously, in 1987 a group of young lawyers, disgruntled at
being denied membership in Ikadin, established the Association of
Indonesian Lawyers (IPHI).

In 1991, with the support of the then ministers of justice and
home affairs, AAI and five other lawyers' organizations -- IPHI,
LBPH Kosgoro, BPKH MKGR, LKBH Trisula and LPPH -- joined forces
to establish the Association of Indonesian Lawyers Organizations
(Poperi). (imn/prb)