Indonesia still struggles to uphold supremacy of law

Indonesia still struggles to uphold supremacy of law

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta

Lack of public trust in law enforcers, inadequate legislation,
and insufficient understanding of new laws retard the drive to
uphold the supremacy of the law in Indonesia, an expert says.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) deputy chairperson
Dewi Fortuna Anwar said in a seminar on upholding the supremacy
of law on Monday that the public's trust in law enforcers, such
as police, prosecutors and judges was still low even after six
years of reform.

"We conducted a survey in 1997 that found that people placed
police, prosecutors and judges on the bottom when asked about the
state officials they trusted most. This image remains until now,
as reflected by our current survey," said Dewi.

This highlighted the fact that the performance of law
enforcers was far below expectations, she said. Dewi added that
the reason was that bribery, corruption and other violations were
still common among law officers.

She argued that this poor performance had led the public to
resolve their cases without involving law enforcers because
people were reluctant to report their cases to officials they did
not trust.

Dewi added that supremacy of the law could not be upheld
without public involvement in the legal process. She admitted
that police had tried to reform the force but no results were
seen after six years of efforts.

Another factor that obstructs law enforcement is that
Indonesia is still using the outdated Dutch colonial legal
system, which is inadequate to resolve conflicts amid ever-
changing conditions, resulting from globalization.

"Many current laws are simply out of date due to the
globalization. Non-conventional crimes, such as intellectual
property rights violations, cyber crimes, financial and banking
crimes, cannot be resolved under the current laws," said Dewi.

In the absence of such laws, she said, people would find their
own ways to resolve their disputes.

Dewi also claimed that political reform was much faster than
legal reform, causing difficulties in upholding the law when
facing political conflicts. This explained why so many cases
involving high profile persons have simply disappeared without a
legal solutions.

"Unlike Thailand, we do not have a strong legal system that is
compatible with the political system. Every time a big political
change occurred in that country, the legal system remains solid
to accommodate that change," she said.

Dewi said that the 1998 reform movement and its aftermath
exemplified the weak law enforcement in the country when the
legal system could not do anything to accommodate the political
changes.

In addition, the law enforcers, especially the police, have
limited knowledge of the numerous new laws, making them incapable
of handling many nonconventional cases.

"The police officers, who have limited knowledge and
education, can't cope with the fast changing conditions, new laws
and new crimes. The situation has led to difficulties in
upholding the law," said Dewi.

She proposed that the police officers should keep on upgrading
their knowledge of the latest developments in criminology, law
and technology, while at the same time boosting their commitment
not to break their own code of conduct and regulations in order
to gain public trust.

"Public participation is also very critical in this area. For
example, people should learn not to try to bribe the police in
resolving their cases. The police will not take bribes if they
are not offered them," said Dewi.