Law school graduates bribe their way to success

Law school graduates bribe their way to success

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The legal profession has been tarnished lately by several
cases involving the court system, while media reports have put
the cases in the spotlight.

The first involves lawyer Trimoelja D. Soerjadi. He accused
former lawyers of House Speaker Akbar Tandjung of having
attempted to create a conspiracy to cover their client's
involvement in the alleged misuse of Rp 40 billion in
nonbudgetary funds of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

The second case involves Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra's
lawyer, Elza Syarief, who has been detained by the Jakarta Police
for allegedly bribing witnesses to lie before the court.

Another case involves John Waliry, the lawyer of Akbar Tanjung
who shouted "bangsat!" ("bastard!") at a prosecutor during a
hearing in the House Speaker's trial.

However, the poor image of the profession has not deterred law
school graduates from becoming lawyers, who now total about
15,000 and are registered at 25 high courts across the country.

On Tuesday morning, hundreds of people visited the Jakarta
Court at Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta. The law graduates, who
had taken an examination to become lawyers on April 17, had come
to see the results.

This year's exam, which was organized jointly by the Supreme
Court and the Indonesian Advocate Steering Committee (KKAI), was
the first since 1999.

Across the country, there were over 8,000 applicants who took
the exam. Of 3,324 applicants who passed, over 1,100 were from
Jakarta.

Previously, the exam was administered by the Supreme Court
only. But reportedly, in order to reduce bribery, this year's
exam was carried out jointly by the two institutions.

However, bribery is still widespread in the lawyer recruitment
process.

Dedi, not his real name, looked happy when he found his name
on the list of applicants who had passed the exam. Earlier, he
told The Jakarta Post that he had paid Rp 10 million to a lawyer,
who claimed to be a member of KKAI.

"It worked," he said with a smile, referring to the bribe.

Wati, another applicant, who earlier claimed to have bribed an
official of the Supreme Court with Rp 15 million, also passed the
exam.

"It's not bribery. I've just attempted to smooth my path to
becoming a lawyer," she told the Post.

Another applicant, who also passed, said he had paid Rp 3
million to get the papers from a lawyer before he took the exam.

Head of the legal practice division of the Center for
Indonesian Law and Policy Studies (PSHK) Binziad Kadafi said that
the committee had failed to establish transparency in
administering the exam.

"We have no idea about the exam system and what is required
from applicants in order to pass. Also, there is nowhere to file
a complaint after the exam is over," he said.

However, member of the executive committee of the bar exam
lawyer Otto Hasibuan brushed aside accusations that some
applicants had cheated in order to pass.

"I guarantee there was no unfairness in the exam," he
asserted.

Those applicants who passed the exam would be allowed to
practice as lawyers after they passed a second exam on the
lawyers'code of ethics.