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