Law commission aims to empower law institutions

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.