Lawyers warned against back-room deals
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan urged lawyers on Tuesday to abandon back-room deals with judges to win their clients' cases, for the sake of a clean judiciary.
"I certainly hope lawyers can win cases because of their skills in legal affairs and because of their respect for their profession," Bagir said in his address to members of the Indonesian Advocate Working Committee (KKAI), which oversees all eight bar associations in the country.
He made little mention of those who might receive the bribes -- the court judges -- the other part of the corruption equation.
The event was attended by several well-paid, high-profile lawyers, including Hotman Paris Hutapea, O.C. Kaligis and Deny Kailimang.
Bagir reminded the group approaching judges for the benefit of their clients violated a lawyers' code of ethics.
The Supreme Court has circulated a notification that bans lawyers from privately meeting judges in the Supreme Court or the lower courts.
"But of course O.C. (Kaligas) can still come here if he wants to bring me some books," Bagir said in jest. Kaligis has represented several high-profile businessmen and officials implicated in corruption.
Corruption watchdogs have long accused lawyers of taking part in the country's notorious court "mafia", where litigants and defendants often give money or gifts to judges through lawyers to secure a verdict.
In 2001, former attorney general Baharuddin Lopa said from his experience many lawyers in Indonesia had forwarded bribes from their clients to prosecutors and judges to win cases.
Last year, a lawyer made a public confession he had given a cellphone to a judge at the South Jakarta District Court, in exchange for the judge's verdict in favor of his client.
The lawyer leaked the back-room deal after the judge failed to fulfill his promise.
Many have also questioned the commercial court's decision to declare international insurance company Manulife bankrupt last year.
In his speech, Bagir warned all law enforcers, and lawyers, against abuses of power as corruption would "further weaken people's faith in the justice system". He did not mention punishments for corrupt judges.
He also criticized lawyers for opting to reside and operate in major cities.
Lawyers were often interested in big money, high-profile cases, involving corruption or embezzlement, which involved trillions of rupiah. They were not so interested in helping justice seekers from poorer rural areas, Bagir said.
This practice helped create the wrong image -- that justice "exclusively belongs to the rich and those who live in big cities".
Bagir said people in remote areas had been long neglected, despite the fact most of them were powerless when it came to legal disputes.
He suggested lawyers, particularly well-paid ones, helped develop legal aid institutes across the country for the poor.
Many institutes under the auspices of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) have closed their offices after foreign donors stopped their aid a few years ago.