Law enforcers pledge internal reform
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.