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.