Law commission aims to empower law institutions

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government-sanctioned Commission for National Law (KHN) unveiled on Monday a plan to empower the country's judiciary and law enforcement institutions as part of a thorough law reform program.

KHN chairman J.E. Sahetapy said a plan of action was being deliberated and would be submitted to President Megawati Soekarnoputri by the end of the year, with the hope that it could be implemented as government policy.

Sahetapy said the action included controversial ideas to audit all judges and replace those found to be corrupt with fresh, uncontaminated recruits.

"This is an emergency situation. We hope that within the next two years we can see an improved judiciary," he told a media briefing held on the sidelines of a meeting forum between KHN and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

"Clean the judiciary first, then the remaining problems will automatically be settled," Sahetapy said.

The Indonesian judiciary has been attacked for corruption involving judges, prosecutors and lawyers, a condition which has scared away both foreign and local investors.

During the forum, KHN shared its vision with the NGOs on the mapping of aspects related to law reform which have been neglected in the four years since the regime of former president Soeharto and a legal system influenced by his cronies collapsed.

KHN, established under a presidential decree in 2000, was tasked with advising the president on policies concerning the law and legal system, and also to monitor law reform in a bid to build people's trust in the justice system.

Aiming at mapping the steps for law reform, KHN held a survey last year on all programs concerning law reform carried out by the government and NGOs and compared its results with the programs stated in the Law No. 25/2000 on the National Development Program 2000-2004.

In his presentation, KHN member M. Fajrul Falaakh said that law reform had yet to attract the proper attention from the public, where the state still dominated the programs which mostly focused on only the examination or discussion and the drafting of law and regulations.

"The state institutions, including the government and the House of Representatives, had implemented 559 programs or 59 percent of the 944 programs on their list. But the NGOs, only 30 percent of 406 of their programs. But both only set less than one percent of the programs which focus on empowering the law enforcement institutions," he said.