Lots of bureaucracy, little justice in court

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An article in the official criminal code stipulates that court trials should be a cheap, quick and simple way to see that justice is done. But whether or not the court actually recognizes this particular section of the legal code is a different matter.

Ms. Joyce, a plaintiff in a civil case at the Central Jakarta District Court, commented that the legal process had been "complicated and disappointing".

"I did not expect that it (the legal process) would be so complicated," Joyce told The Jakarta Post while waiting for the court to hear her case on Wednesday.

More than three months ago, she sued her former business partner for misusing her money, which had been appropriated to expand their business.

At first Joyce thought she could handle all the complexities of the legal process on her own and rejected the badgering of several court clerks who were offering to help her. However, she soon began to understand the tediousness of the legal process and eventually had to succumb to the clerks' offer of assistance.

"When I was registering my case, a clerk requested some money to prioritize my lawsuit on the waiting list," she said, adding that clerks played a disproportionately important role during the legal process in court.

They have become inappropriately powerful in choosing which lawsuits are prioritized on the waiting list, according to Joyce.

A clerk at the South Jakarta District Court explained that the procedure for filing a lawsuit started with registering it with the civilian case department of the court.

One then is required to pay an administrative fee of Rp 320,000 (US$33.7) for a lawsuit if there is only one entity accused, and for two it is Rp 410,000.

The department will then send a list of registered lawsuits to the court chief to be distributed to the panel of judges, who will hear each of the cases.

"After registering the lawsuit you have to wait as much as one month until the court summons you," Ratih, the clerk, told the Post.

Joyce also criticized the court for not adhering to the trial schedule on time and she was under the impression that bribing the clerks was the only way to accelerate the legal process.

"The legal process is tiring and I want to finish my case soon," she said.

According to Joyce, the administrative fee to register a lawsuit for her civil case was relatively cheap, but after the "additional fees" paid to several parties in the court she soon realized how expensive it was.

In order to register the lawsuit, Joyce paid the standard administrative fee of Rp 320,000, however, she has now spent "millions of rupiah" in "additional fees", even though the money she is demanding from her former business partner is only Rp 100 million.

Not long ago, Joyce continued, a clerk, claiming to have a close relationship with the judge trying her case, approached her and said that he could help her win her case if she was willing to give him a certain amount of money.

"I am still considering his offer, but I am not sure whether this clerk can really help me," she remarked, saying that she did not want to be deceived.

Joyce said that sometimes now she has regrets about taking this case against her partner to court at all, since she has had to spend much of her time and a relatively large amount of money merely for the case to be heard.

"The money I've given to the clerks for merely processing my case against the accused is already too much. I almost withdrew my case, but my pride has not allowed me to do so," she said.

Separately, a judge at the Central Jakarta District Court said that the court attempts to conduct all trials in an efficient and speedy manner, but it could not fulfill everybody's expectations because there were too many lawsuits and the number of qualified judges is limited.

One senior judge did not deny the fact that clerks do change case priorities on the waiting list, however, stating that, "Plaintiffs should not give them any money," without elaborating

He refused comment when the Post asked him whether there were judges who received illegal payments from plaintiffs or respondents to influence the outcome of a case.

However, he acknowledged that it was possible that anyone could claim, falsely or otherwise, to have a close relationship with judges, and in turn promise to help either or both parties win a case.

"Anyone can claim this or that, but I have nothing to do with that," he asserted.