Lawyers must unite before 2005: Soerjono

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia lawyers should unite under an umbrella organization because they will have to compete with foreign lawyers after 2005, Chief Justice Soerjono said.

Soerjono told members of the Association of Indonesian Advocates (AAI) that in compliance with the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) Indonesia will have to open its doors to foreign lawyers.

Indonesia, he explained, will have to abide by the free trade commitments it agreed to in GATT and with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Indonesia has also committed itself to free trade with members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation.

Besides becoming more professional, Indonesian lawyers must form a united front to face the challenge, the chief justice said on Friday.

A single association would make it easier for the government and lawyers to jointly draw up a code of ethics, he said.

Some of these foreign lawyers will be highly professional and trained as they come from countries with sophisticated legal systems, he warned.

The AAI is one of three lawyer associations in Indonesia. All three have been at loggerheads. The other two are the Indonesian Bar Association and the Association of Indonesian Lawyers

The government has failed to persuade them to unite into one organization, as a 1985 law requires every profession to do, because the association leaders reject the idea. The associations have however agreed on the need to establish a common code of ethics for their profession.

AAI leaders have also emphasized the need for legislation that recognizes advocates as a separate profession. They insist they are different from lawyers.

The AAI, founded in 1990, has 896 members. It appointed Yan Apul, previously the deputy of Gani Djemat, its new chairman on Friday.

Gani Djemat said in his farewell speech on Friday that while he agreed with unification, it is more imperative that Indonesia enact legislation on their profession. (03).