LBH marks 26th birthday with fund, staff shortages
By P. Prasetyohadi
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH), which views itself as a legal defender of the poor, marks its 26th anniversary today on a somber note: It is severely understaffed and underfunded.
Executive Director Luhut M.P. Pangaribuan said that LBH Jakarta, as the institute is popularly known, has not received a single cent in donations from the Jakarta administration during his tenure, which dates back to 1989.
LBH Jakarta, which waives all legal fees for the majority of its poor clients, now receives its funding entirely from its parent organization, the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute.
The foundation in turn relies mainly on donations including, among others, the Novib in the Netherlands, the United States Agency for International Development and the Swedish International Development Agency.
Pangaribuan declined to disclose LBH Jakarta's finances, but said the institute is working on a shoestring budget.
"The contributions from YLBHI barely cover half of our operational costs," he told The Jakarta Post Saturday.
Many companies had expressed their intention to become donors, but pulled out as soon as they learned that LBH Jakarta, in its activities, very often has to confront the government.
A donation of Rp 50 million (US$21,276) a month from the government would go a long way toward covering the institute's operations, he said, pointing out that most of his clients were actually victims of the government's development programs.
LBH Jakarta, founded by the late respectable lawyer Lukman Wiranata 26 years ago, is the first legal aid institute to open in the country,
When it began, it received financial and political support from the city administration, then under governor Ali Sadikin, who remains a patron of the foundation to this day.
Official funding dried out when LBH Jakarta became more and more frequently locked in legal battles against the government.
The institute, like the foundation, has taken on a more political dimension, handling cases that pit the people, usually poor, against the government. Many of its lawyers are also representing the 124 people currently on trial in connection with the July 27 riots in Jakarta.
Pangaribuan said each year since 1995, LBH Jakarta received a form from the Ministry of Justice to apply for government funding. Each time, he filled out the form and returned it to the ministry. But to date, LBH Jakarta has not received any response, not even a rejection notice, he said.
Because of budget constraints, the institute is now run only by 12 registered lawyers and 15 assistants.
The work requires a strong dedication and commitment because pay is meager, especially when compared with the huge salaries corporate lawyers earn nowadays.
Pangaribuan was too embarrassed to disclose the salary of his lawyers, saying that "Ideally, they should be paid Rp 1 million."
Because of the constraints, the institute has had to turn away many cases. But in keeping with its mission, it gives priority to providing legal counsel and representation for poor people.
The institute receives an average of 10 requests a day, either for legal counseling or representation, but it could only take five, Pangaribuan said.
"We are definitely overburdened," he said.
Many of the cases that LBH Jakarta could not handle were referred to its "alumni" who had moved on to set up their own law offices, he said. Most of them would charge little for clients that were referred by the institute, he added.