Group of young lawyers decry chief justice
Group of young lawyers decry chief justice
JAKARTA (JP): Chief Justice Soerjono came under further
criticism yesterday for his letter declaring unenforceable a
Supreme Court ruling in a land dispute in Irian Jaya. This latest
objection came from a group of young lawyers who call themselves
the Indonesian Law Society.
Some 15 members of the society visited the Supreme Court to
register their protest, but after failing to meet with the chief
justice, they moved to the nearby office of the National
Commission on Human Rights, where they received a hearing.
"We regret Chief Justice Soerjono's decision to send the
letter, reversing a Supreme Court judgment, which is legally
final," Waskito, who led the group of young lawyers to the human
rights commission.
He told B.N. Marbun, a member of the commission, that
Soerjono's decision was groundless and unjust.
The Chief Justice should uphold and respect the supremacy of
law, as well as the independence and autonomy of judicial
institutions, said the lawyer from the Jakarta branch of the
Legal Aid Institute.
Chief Justice Soerjono has been widely criticized for sending
a "personal" letter intervening in the execution of a Supreme
Court ruling in a land dispute between the provincial government
of Irian Jaya and an Irian Jaya resident.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hanoch Hebe Ohee, the
resident, and ordered the Irian Jaya governor and the Irian Jaya
office of the Directorate of Agriculture, the Directorate of
Commercial Plantations, the Directorate of Forestry, the
Directorate of Animal Husbandry, and the Directorate of Fisheries
to pay Rp 18.6 billion ($8.5 million) for land appropriated from
the Ongge and Hanoch keret (sub-clans), which Ohee represented in
his suit.
But Soerjono subsequently sent a letter to the Irian Jaya
district court in which he said that the defendant were not
public legal bodies "which have their own property" and therefore
the Supreme Court verdict in favor of the plaintiff could not be
executed.
The dispute over the 62 hectare plot of land, located about 30
kilometers from the Sentani Airport, began in 1984 when Ohee
sought to regain the property, controlled by the Irian Jaya
government.
Communal land
Ohee, who has spent no less than Rp 1 billion ($450,000) on
the 10 year legal wrangle, says the property is communal land
belonging to his clan since the 1940s.
Ohee won the legal battle at the district court level in July
1985. After losing an appeal to the high court, the provincial
government appealed to the Supreme Court in 1988 and lost again.
Waskito praised the human rights commission for asking
Soerjono to revoke his letter.
Marbun said the commission would send a team to Irian Jaya to
collect data and information on the prolonged land dispute.
Although the sub-clans have a right to the communal land under
Indonesian land law, the chief justice's letter has nullified
their right to the land, he said.
At the Supreme Court, the delegation of young lawyers were met
by the court's secretary general Toton Suprapto.
Toton repeated Soerjono's earlier statement, saying that the
Supreme Court had the authority to supervise and monitor the
activities of lower courts.
He suggested that the plaintiff file another lawsuit, this
time against the institutions rather than the individuals. (imn)