Judges asked to use conscience in rulings
Judges asked to use conscience in rulings
JAKARTA (JP): Legal experts agreed on Monday that Indonesian
judges should have moral courage and conscience in issuing
verdicts on criminal cases.
Satjipto Rahardjo, a law professor at the Semarang-based
Diponegoro University in Central Java and his colleague from the
University of Indonesia Loebby Loqman said the Indonesian
judicial system, including the Supreme Court, had yet to make
significant improvements to the system due to rigid existing laws
and regulations.
Satjipto said it was hard for officials in the Indonesian
legal system, which was still in transition, to abandon the
ideas, thoughts and paradigm of the New Order which have been
considered outdated.
"Most of the verdicts issued by the judges were based merely
on the prevailing regulations. Therefore, misjudged rulings have
led to dissatisfaction and disappointment," Satjipto told The
Jakarta Post after addressing a panel discussion on "Applying
Criminal Measures on Corruption and Banking Crimes in the Reform
Era", jointly held by the Supreme Court and the University of
Indonesia.
He suggested that a corporate culture be established in the
Indonesian judicial system.
"It means judges, prosecutors and lawyers should not confront
each other but join forces to make a judicial decision based on
their conscience," Satjipto, who is also a member of the National
Commission on Human Rights, said.
He said a verdict based on one's conscience indicated that the
law was not a simple mathematical expression whose decision-
making could be delegated to computers.
"The law and regulations are written legal products. However,
justice can develop in the hands of the judges," he said.
Satjipto said establishing a corporate culture certainly
needed behavioral and cultural changes as well as courage on the
part of the Indonesian legal community.
"But, these are the costs they (legal community) all have to
pay to regain the people's trust in the legal system," he said.
He cited that justices in the United States had the capability
and courage to do such "experiments".
He quoted a statement of popular U.S. justice O.W. Holmes:
"The life of the law has not been logic but experience".
They (American justices) could set aside the trias politica
principles for the sake of the people's welfare, he said.
"So because of such a relation, the phrase 'government by the
judiciary' was coined and U.S. justices are praised as qualified
decision makers," he said.
Satjipto said Indonesian judges must combine intellect and
professionalism.
"This will place judges above other intellectuals," he said.
Separately, Loebby Loqman said judicial institutions had full
authority in making legal decisions.
"But, problems may appear when judges have to decide which
comes first, justice or regulations.
"In my opinion, justice should be placed above regulations,"
Loebby said.
Loebby said, judges have often failed to uphold justice
because they merely interpreted the laws and regulations when
making decisions.
"Most of the regulations and laws have inadequate guidelines
for the judges," he said.
He said insufficient explanations often led judges to make
wrong decisions or abandon their conscience.
"A judge may just ignore the laws and regulations and refer to
his conscience for the sake of justice," he said.
He said justice must be upheld by the judges with
accountability to himself and to God. (01)