Law can be bought

Law can be bought

From Rakyat Merdeka

Upholding the supremacy of law in Indonesia is virtually impossible at present. Various cases have shown that the country's judiciary yields to bribery and death threats. Very recently, the Supreme Court judges conducted the judicial review of the case of Tommy Soeharto, who was handed down a sentence of 18 months in jail.

We cannot blame Taufik, German and Soeharto, the three members of the panel of Supreme Court judges passing the ruling as they are only a small part of the legal system that has degenerated over the decades.

The government also faces a dilemma as some people in Megawati's Cabinet have not upheld the law. They are Soeharto's underlings who have managed to remain in the administration, the fruit of the hard work of some cadres of the functional group (Golkar) that still have power.

All of us who still hope that the legal system in this country can still be improved should take heart and know that nothing more can be done to improve our poor legal system.

Over the years, we have adopted the legal system from the Dutch colonial administration and some other laws from western countries, which could actually be effective to solve cases if they were properly implemented.

BAHRUN T MALAKA

Jakarta