Lubis still committed to rights agenda
By T. Sima Gunawan
JAKARTA (JP): Ask any American about the significance of July 4, and the answer will be: American Independence Day. But ask Todung Mulya Lubis the same question and he'll say: It's my birthday.
Lubis was born on July 4, 1949 in Muara Botung, North Sumatra. After completing high school in Medan in 1968, he went to the University of Indonesia (UI), in Jakarta, and graduated from the university's School of Law in 1974. He also studied at the Institute of American and International Law, the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Law School and Harvard Law School.
He was a member of UI's School of Law from 1978 to 1985 and the University of Padjadjaran School of Law in Bandung from 1982 to 1985. He was forced to resign in 1986 due to his active participation in defending political prisoners. In 1991 he rejoined UI as a part-time lecturer on human rights. He was a visiting scholar at the Boalt Law School from 1978 to 1979.
In 1971 he joined the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) as an intern. Between 1979 and 1985 he chaired the Jakarta chapter of LBH. He was also chairman of YLBHI, an umbrella group for LBH offices across the country. He helped found the Center for Human Rights Studies in 1992 and is currently the center's chairman.
Among the important cases he handled along with other prominent lawyers regarded H.R. Dharsono, a former ASEAN secretary-general who was convicted of subversion in 1986. In 1922 he helped the banned Prioritas daily with its judicial review case. He was a co-lawyer for Tempo, whose publishing license was revoked by the government in 1994.
In 1991, after he got his master's degree from Berkeley, he set up his own law firm, Mulya Lubis and Partners, which appears to have enjoyed a robust business. On Friday night, the name of the law firm was officially changed to Lubis, Santosa & Maulana after Mulya Lubis, Lelyana Santosa and Insan Budi Maulana.
Lubis and his wife Damiyati Sundoro have two children.
He shared his thoughts in an interview with The Jakarta Post last week.
Question: You used to deal a lot with human rights issues. How involved are you now?
Answer: I still teach at the University of Indonesia, I still help the Legal Aid Institute (as one of the patrons) and I still lead the Center for Human Rights Studies. Along with some friends, we have just established an AIDS Legal Aid Institute and we are still looking for the best time to announce it publicly.
I am still doing the social work but not as intensively as I used to. Maybe I dedicate only about 20 percent of my time to those activities and spend the rest with my law firm.
Q: Could you tell the story behind the establishment of the AIDS Legal Aid Institute?
A: It was set up by several doctors, including Dr. Zubairi Zoerban and Dr. Samsu Rizal, journalist Irwan Julianto, AIDS activist Susana Murni and Nona Poeroe, and several lawyers like Frans Hendra Winarta, Trimoelya Soerjadi from Surabaya and Kamal Firdaus from Yogyakarta.
We want the legal profession to be sensitive to and care about social issues. AIDS is not just a medical issue. People with HIV/AIDS deserve legal protection and should not be discriminated against by their employers or by insurance companies. There are some cases, which are not exposed, in which people with HIV/AIDS are laid off from their jobs. We can't let this happen.
Q: The AIDS Legal Aid Institute is basically about human rights. I wonder if you see any progress with the human rights condition in the country.
A: There is "partial progress". We have the National Commission on Human Rights, which is credible. The Armed Forces has made efforts to be wiser and more careful in handling demonstrations. For example, they do not use guns or open fire as often as they did in the past. They have tried to be persuasive and defensive.
On the other hand, we see the abuse (of power) which is unthinkable, like the death of Cece (a suspect in a robbery- murder case) in police detention, and then the case of Udin (a journalist who was murdered) in Yogyakarta.
What is more serious is the fact that in our society, there is a growth of violence which tends to be disintegrative, in the form of church burnings, ethnic violence and other repressive activities.
Human rights violations have not only been committed by the state, but also by a society led by the wrong collective consciousness.
I think there are some things which are bothering us as a nation.
I don't dare to say that there has been progress in the human rights condition in Indonesia. We have data and information on many violations.
Q: What is the root of the problem?
A: Social and economic gaps, a weak legal tradition and weak legal institutions, including the courts and the police, make people want to take the law into their hands. There are also some people who want to take advantage of the situation.
Q: As a former Legal Aid Institute chairman, could you comment on LBH and its challenges?
A: LBH has a human resources problem, which needs to be addressed by the chairman. We face more complicated problems. We won't understand the problems if our understanding of law is narrow and simple. We need adequate understanding about politics and economics. LBH should be more responsive in its policy.
Besides, LBH has to admit that it needs reorientation and focus (their activities) so that it will have a clearer agenda.
Q: Are you saying that the agenda is not clear?
A: LBH is only following up on what has been done before. LBH can't do everything. Why not, for instance, show more attention to subversion or labor issues. These issues should be handled more systematically. LBH should not focus on short-term goals. It needs long-term goals and to be more realistic.
Many people turn to the National Commission on Human Rights. LBH should be grateful because the commission is taking over its job, so that it can do other things such as international lobbying. Our NGOs are very weak in this area.
Q: How did you start your law firm?
A: When I was at LBH I did not have any other job. I used to teach at the University of Indonesia, but they asked me to resign after I handled Dharsono's case. I quit from my position as a permanent teaching staff member and became a part-time instructor. I made a living at LBH. But I realized that LBH is not a permanent source of income. After I was prepared to resign, I planned to establish my law firm. I set up this firm in 1991 after finishing my studies abroad.
Q: Why did you change the name of the law firm?
A: We wanted to build a long-term corporate image. I don't think the future business will be a personalized business. In the past, professional egoism could develop in legal services, but not today. Business is the combination of human resources and we want Lubis, Santosa and Maulana to become a good law firm in Indonesia within 10 years. We still lag behind other law firms which are more established.
Q: What is the specialty of your law firm?
A: We have three divisions: division of general corporate matters, litigation department and division of intellectual property rights.
There are things we have not been able to cover like environment compliance and tax because of human resource limitations. We only have 14 lawyers.
Q: How difficult is it to get good human resources?
A: It is really difficult. We find it hard to find young legal consultants who are qualified, disciplined, highly motivated, have a strong will and have a mastery of a foreign language, English, Japanese or German.
Q: Does that mean more opportunities for foreign lawyers working here?
A: They could take a great portion of the work which should be done by local lawyers.
Q: How is the regulation of foreign lawyers?
A: They are allowed to operate here as long as they work at an Indonesian law firm and get a permit from the Ministry of Justice. We have an American lawyer at our law firm.
But there are many who operate here illegally. They work as consultants but they offer legal services. There are others who come from Singapore, Hong Kong, or other countries with visa-free facilities as tourists, staying here for about one week in hotels.
True, there are many foreign lawyers who take over our jobs. But the World Trade Organization makes that possible. We have to be prepared and face them professionally.
Q: How many local lawyers do we have here?
A: At least 6,000 licensed lawyers with more than half of them in Jakarta. But most of them are litigation lawyers. We only have a few corporate lawyers.
There are about 20 law firms in Jakarta, I don't think there are any in other cities. Well, they have advocate firms, but not law firms.
I think there is a big opportunity in this field. Just look at the capital market, there are hundreds of listed companies, which means there is a continuous need for legal auditing, writing disclosure, drafting legal opinions, writing issues, obligation issuances, etc. There is a great demand for law firms, especially because there is a great interest among foreign investors to do business here.
Q: I hear that foreign investors are concerned about legal insecurity in Indonesia.
A: Some government officials realize that the problems of law can become a disincentive to foreign investment... I say that the weakest side of the process of economic development in Indonesia is the law. There is collusion, legal uncertainty, legal pressures.
Q: We have a weak implementation of the law. How about the laws themselves? Are they adequate?
A: I think there is progress in the reformation of economic laws. At least we have Law on Limited Liability Companies No.1/1995, Law No. 8/1995 on the Capital Market, a package of Law on Intellectual Property Rights, which is being revised by the House of Representatives, Law No.7/1992 on Banking, etc ...
Of course, there are things we should improve, such as the Law on Capital Investment, Law on Insurance, Law on Pension Fund, as well as the Civil Law, which covers the trial process.... I think it is high time we improved it (the Civil Code) because business people rely on it to seek legal protection and because our civil trial procedures are quiet complicated....
If we don't improve the Civil Law so that it allows for a quick and simple legal process, investors will not feel secure... We have to admit that our legal system is far from adequate in protecting them.