LBH marks 26th birthday with fund, staff shortages

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.