MA seeks jail without trial for contempt of court
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Supreme Court (MA) is considering drafting a bill that will allow immediate imprisonment without trial for people committing contempt of court in what it calls a bid to protect its dignity and honor.
An academic paper provided by the court's research and development division head suggests anyone --be they defendants, plaintiffs, lawyers, prosecutors, witnesses, police officers, court officials, journalists or visitors -- may be put in jail immediately without trial if they do not pay due respect to the court and its proceedings.
Contempt of court refers to "any conduct within and outside the court, which may threaten or assault the court's honor, including physical assault committed by someone in the presence of the court as well as defamation against the court's judges."
Currently, any contempt of court has to be investigated by police and submitted to the court before it conducts a hearing on a possible jail term.
The paper suggested that journalists or media be charged with contempt of court if they published news items that were, "one- sided, subjective and judgmental of the court proceedings, or criticize judges' private life or condemn one party involved in the case which could influence the legal proceeding and public opinion and disturb a fair trial."
Susanti Adi Nugroho, SC's research and development division head, said over the weekend that a journalist may also be charged if he or she took pictures in court without permission from court authorities.
"We have yet to discuss it with the press, but that is the guideline," Susanto said, adding that the paper needed to be discussed with several related institutions.
Local newspapers often publish stories critical of the country's judiciary, in which corruption is well-documented.
The paper also proposed that it be imposed on lawyers who left courtrooms before a hearing because it is regarded as "not doing their obligation to defend their client".
Lawyers here sometimes leave courtrooms as a form of protest. Lawyers of the youngest son of former president Soeharto, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, did as much last year during their client's trial.
Tommy was sentenced to a 15-year jail term for the assassination of a Supreme Court Justice, who convicted him of corruption in 2000.
However, only a few contempt of court cases were settled. One of the rare cases involved lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution, whose practicing license was revoked in the 1980s.
Susanti said a special ruling on contempt of court is mandatory as existing regulations do not rule on it clearly.
In fact, there are several articles in the criminal code relating to it. There is also a joint regulation issued by the Supreme Court and Justice Ministry in 1987, which has been used to regulate a contempt of court case.
However, the court argued that judges may not punish people who commit a contempt of court offense immediately as the case must be processed by police first.
"Judges and courts can do nothing if they are victimized with the contempt of court offenses," Susanti said over the weekend.
The court's research division conducted a survey involving 611 judges from district courts, religious courts, state administrative courts and military courts across the country last year.
As many as 230 respondents said they had been exposed to contempt of court cases between one to five times, 41 judges cited between six to 10 times, while 69 others suffered more than 10 times.
Most said they had suffered some form of physical or verbal abuse from lawyers, defendants, visitors or other parties involved in hearings.