House Commission III Targets Advocate Bill as Second Renaissance for the Profession

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Chairman of House Commission III, Habiburokhman, hopes that the Draft Law (RUU) on Amendments to Law No. 18 of 2003 on Advocates will become a momentum for the “second renaissance” of the advocate profession.

According to him, the drafters of the previous Advocate Law had pioneered the revival of that profession in 2002. However, several matters are now no longer relevant and need improvement to revive the profession again.

“If we talk about the legal profession in particular, if we want to talk about the most sincere dedication, it lies with advocates,” said Habiburokhman during a meeting with several advocate organisations at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta on Monday.

Moreover, he said, advocates are required to carry out pro bono activities or free legal aid to parties in need to obtain justice.

“Advocates are not paid, but there is an obligation to carry out pro bono advocacy. That’s already a deficit, already in the red, right?” he said.

That good faith, he said, must refer to the code of ethics of the advocate profession. In other words, he stated that there must be standardisation of the advocate’s code of ethics that needs to serve as a reference for the spirit of advocate impunity in the Criminal Procedure Code.

“If we talk about standardisation of ethical codes, like it or not, we have to talk about advocate organisations. I hope that later we here together shed our respective organisational egos,” he said.