Lawyers agree to form association

Lawyers agree to form association

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

People may well hope for better conduct from the country's
lawyers -- who are often accused of being part of notorious
"judicial mafias" -- with Indonesia's eight lawyer associations
deciding to merge into a single bar association on Thursday.

Lawyer Otto Hasibuan declared the establishment of the
Indonesian Advocates Association (Peradin), which united the
Indonesian Bar Association (Ikadin), the Indonesian Advocates
Union (IAI), the Indonesian Legal Counsel Union (IPHI), the
Indonesian Advocates and Lawyers Association (HAPI), the
Indonesian Lawyers Federation (SPI), the Indonesian Legal Counsel
Association (AKHI), the Capital Market Legal Counsel Association
(HKHPM) and the Indonesian Syariah Lawyers Association (APSI).

Otto, a former member of Ikadin, was appointed chairman of
Peradin, whose name is similar to Indonesia's previous single bar
association that was dissolved in 1986.

During the press conference, Otto said that a single bar
association would enable better management of some 15,000
registered advocates in the country.

"We strive to establish a professional and respected bar
association, which is close to common people like the old
Peradin," he told reporters, adding that the establishment of a
single bar association was mandated in Law No. 18/2003 concerning
advocates.

In a bid to maintain quality and conduct of lawyers, Otto said
the bar association planned to set up an honorary council and a
supervisory commission, and will draw up comprehensive
regulations in the near future.

"In the past, lawyers did not obey the code of conduct and
code of ethics because there were so many bar associations. If a
bar association imposed a sanction upon a member for bad conduct,
that member could easily move to another association. Now, that
is not possible," Otto said.

While the honorary council will consist of Peradin members who
will be responsible for upholding the code of ethics, the
supervisory commission is expected to consist of academicians and
legal experts who are not Peradin members, as they must deal with
code of conduct enforcement, he said.

Peradin has also signed an agreement with University of
Indonesia's School of Law, which represents schools of law from
state-owned universities across the country, to devise a training
course for candidate advocates.

"A law school graduate must complete the training and do an
internship for two years before they are permitted to sit a test
to get an advocates license. This way, we expect to get quality
lawyers," Otto said, adding that law school graduates could be
advocates soon after their graduation.

Otto also announced that all members of Peradin must give
legal aid for free to common people in a bid to make them closer
to the public.

"Therefore, the obligation to provide free legal aid is not
just in the hands of the government," he said.

Separately, Denny Kailimang, who is a deputy chairman of
Peradin, explained that Peradin would also rule on the presence
of foreign legal counsels practicing in the country.

"All foreign lawyers who are working here are doing so
illegally. They do not have licenses from any bar association
since the issuance of the advocates law in April last year," he
said.

Denny said that foreign lawyers must secure licenses from
Peradin to enable them work in the country's law firms.