Law enforcers pledge internal reform
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In a bid to win back public trust, the country's law enforcement institutions inked on Friday an agreement on how to begin internal reform.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Attorney General M.A. Rahman, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, National Law Commission chairman J.E. Sahetapy and the chief commissioner of the newly established Anti-Corruption Commission, ...., witnessed the signing of the agreement.
The eight-point agreement covers issues ranging from the improvement of handling cases, simplifying procedures for law enforcement and developing a transparent and accountable budget management system among law enforcement institutions.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir said the agreement would entail a tremendous undertaking by the law enforcement institutions.
"Improvement of our legal institutions cannot be accomplished overnight as it involves many aspects, including the unraveling of some deep-rooted practices," Bagir told the audience.
However, Bagir said the reform drive would not touch on the issue of the so-called "court mafia".
"We will deal only with cases at hand and the mafia is something intangible and difficult to validate," he said after the signing ceremony.
Indonesia has been constantly ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world by international rating agencies.
The executive director of the Partnership for Governance Reform, a non-governmental organization that helped facilitate the summit, H.S. Dillon, said the meeting was another milestone in the country's legal reform.
"Today is a day when those who are supposed to do the cleaning have pledged unto themselves that they must clean themselves first," Dillon said.
The law summit was the third when law enforcers met to discuss how to uphold the supremacy of law. The first two summits were held in January and October 2002.
On March 31 this year, the Supreme Court assumed oversight of the courts from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, ending 40 years of government dependence by the courts.
Despite the three summits and other legal reforms, there has been little tangible progress in the institutions' attempts to curb corruption and uphold respect for human rights.
The judiciary still hands down controversial decisions that violate the public's sense of justice, the latest example being the acquittal by the Supreme Court of House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung in a multimillion-dollar graft case last month.
Analysts have said that legal reform is the most important step to safeguard the reform movement, which began in 1998.
Earlier, the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute expressed concern the summit could undermine the independence of the courts and further entrench the court mafia.
It stressed that although coordination between all legal institutions and professions was crucial, institution had to act independently of the others.