Lawyers mired in moral crisis, using all means available to win

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The arrest and detention of Elza Syarief, chief lawyer for president Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, over a bribery case should signal an alarm to the nation over what is really happening in this country's legal system, experts say.

Although Elza is not yet convicted of bribery, her arrest has damaged the reputation of lawyers, and this would make public believe that bribery, collusion and corruption are rampant in the country's legal system, they said.

Noted lawyer Frans Hendra Winarta said even prior to Elza's arrest, the popularity of lawyers in the eyes of the public had diminished.

"Recently, there was a survey that cited 76 percent of respondents no longer trust lawyers," he told The Jakarta Post.

Frans said Elza's case provided an appropriate opportunity for lawyers to restore their image by punishing Elza.

"The bar association should dare to punish a lawyer, if the lawyer is found guilty of violating the code of ethics. This could provide a deterrent for other lawyers not to violate the code of ethics in the future," he said.

The Indonesian Advocates and Lawyers Association (HAPI), of which Elza is a member, plans to announce its decision next week as to whether they consider Elza has breached its code of ethics.

If HAPI finds Elza guilty, it could revoke her membership and ask the Supreme Court to suspend her license to practice law.

The Jakarta Police arrested and detained Elza on Monday for allegedly bribing two witnesses to lie to the court during her client's trial.

Elza has openly admitted that she gave money to the two witnesses, but denied that it was a bribe, saying that the money was given for the two to buy decent clothes to attend the trial sessions.

Without pointing the finger at Elza, former Supreme Court chief justice Purwoto Gandasubrata said that the country's legal apparatus, including lawyers, had experienced moral degeneration.

"Currently, we are seeing that the morality of the legal apparatus is deteriorating. The law has become a commodity, and the consenting parties no longer fight for justice, but for materialism," Purwoto told the Post.

Purwoto, who served for 40 years as a judge before he retired in 1994, said that the situation following the reform movement in 1998 had changed for the worse.

"In the past, lawyers and judges rarely met one another while a case was in process," said Purwoto, adding that this phenomenon had become common practice today.

Legal activists said that meetings between judges and lawyers often ended up in a negotiation over a case leading to collusion and corruption.

Frans acknowledged that a number of lawyers had tarnished the image of the profession by pursuing all means, including bribery, to win their case.

"If lawyers merely aim to win their cases at court, it will be dangerous since they may do anything to win their cases, regardless of the morality of it," he added.

Arif Gunantoko, a fledgling lawyer at Adhyaksa and Co. law firm, conceded that winning cases in court would be instrumental both to boost the lawyers' wealth and career.

"No wonder, the lawyers are all out to win their cases, by using all means available," said Arif.