Legal system decay reflects society: Expert

Legal system decay reflects society: Expert

By Ahmad Noerhori

JAKARTA (JP): A judge dodged a shoe thrown at him by a
disgruntled plaintiff. A jailed business tycoon paid a warden a
small amount of money and walked out free. A lawyer took a gun
into a courtroom.

These are frustrating snapshots of Indonesia's judiciary. But
alerting people to the situation is more frustrating, according
to legal expert Harkristuti Harkrisnowo.

"It's like shouting in the middle of the desert," said
Harkristuti, who is head of the criminal law department at the
University of Indonesia's Law School.

"All we can do is hope that someone might listen. What else?
We're no competition with political interest," she told The
Jakarta Post Monday.

The hope for a better and more transparent legal system is a
precious dream for Harkristuti.

"What is happening today in the courtrooms reflects what's
happening in society. Discrimination, oppression, arrogance. And
everybody has their share in the creation of it," said the matron
of a department dominated by men.

Harkristuti, 41, laments the way people view the legal system.

"Everybody is thinking about cost and benefits in this matter.
If you can settle a case now by bribing, why wait another day in
uncertainty?" she said. "It's no longer important to find who is
to blame."

She said human resources development is an uphill battle.
"Education should be the key, not lectures or orientations but
public education packaged nicely in the mass media."

Harkristuti obtained her doctorate in 1991 from a small
American university, Sam Houston State University in Texas which
is home to the largest criminal justice college in the United
States.

She now transfers the knowledge she obtained abroad to her
students.

"Sometimes they ask whether the law is like what I say. They
understand, though, that comparing a lecture to reality is like
comparing apples to oranges. They are different."

She said her students do not want to work as attorneys or
judges in government institutions. "They say, it's dirty out
there. Corrupt. They prefer to be corporate lawyers, a position
which has relatively no moral obligation."

A large number of students at Harkristuti's school end up in
major corporate law firms with huge salaries. In the last 10
years, not more than a dozen students chose to enter government
legal institutions.

"Only those with strong hearts should enter government legal
institutions," Harkristuti said.

Although she blames society in general, Harkristuti believes
the government has played a significant role in the decay of
Indonesia's judiciary.

Only in the 1993 Broad Guidelines of State Policies, which is
Indonesia's development blueprint, did the government mention the
need for law development. In previous guidelines, law was
mentioned only as a small part of other issues.

For instance, in the 1988 guidelines, law development was put
under the section for politics, government apparatus, law
information, press and foreign affairs. In the 1993 State
Guidelines, law had its own section. The State Guidelines is
formed every five years.

Politics

Harkristuti said that political issues always seem to
overshadow legal ones.

"Everything depends too much on people's political interests,"
she said. "Academics like me became hoarse shouting against (the
recent decision) of Chief Justice Sarwata to send (labor leader)
Muchtar Pakpahan (to jail). Did it matter?"

Last year, the Supreme Court granted request for a trial
review filed by the Medan State Court indicting labor leader
Muchtar Pakpahan. Legal experts said it was illegal because,
according to the Criminal Code, prosecutors are not allowed to
file a trial review.

Harkristuti also said the Criminal Code, an inheritance of the
Dutch colonial government era, was outdated. First implemented in
1886, it was modified in 1946 to become Indonesia's first and
only Criminal Code.

Legal experts from across the country created a 600-article
draft that became Indonesia's first original Criminal Code in
1993. Twelve years of hard work seemed to have bore no fruits.

Until today, the government has yet to file it to the House of
Representatives.

"I don't know where the draft is now. What I know is that
someone has made changes to it," said Harkristuti. She was not in
the team but believed the team consisted of Indonesia's best
legal experts.

"Now even the creators cannot recognize it. They are like
(fashion designer) Harry Dharsono who can no longer recognize a
dress of his design," she said.

Revolution

"I once thought a top to down overhaul such as a revolution
was the answer to the structural problem in Indonesian law. But
after a while I realized it would only make people suffer," she
said.

"The common people will be the victims, while the elite group
will just fly with their jets and their Swiss bank accounts to
their mansions in California.

"We have to empower every institution in society, affirm our
commitment that this is for the people," she said.

"It's a slow process. But I know there are people out there
who are willing to listen."