Meaningless law summits

For people concerned about justice, legal and judicial reform has barely started even though three conferences known as law summits have been held since 2001. The Second Law Summit was held in 2002, and, after some reviews were carried out in 2003, the third one was held in 2004 with a broader range of participants besides the legal and law enforcement institutions themselves, such as the Supreme Court, Attorney General's Office, the National Police and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.

The recent acquittal of Nurdin Halid of all graft charges by the South Jakarta Court, and the arrest by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) of Abdullah Puteh's lawyer, Tengku Saifudin Popon, and two Jakarta High Court clerks accepting bribes from the latter amounting to Rp 250 million has further worsened the image of the country's already chaotic judiciary.

Nurdin's acquittal was met with criticism by members of the House of Representatives (DPR), including Anhar Nasution of Commission III, who said the Nurdin verdict was another blow against the national corruption campaign (The Jakarta Post, June 17). And during a hearing between Commission III and Bagir Manan, he asked the Supreme Court chief justice to take action against the judges of the "notorious" South Jakarta District Court -- which has acquitted several high-profile defendants, including Sudjono Timan, Paul Sutopo and S. Natanagara. This, however, received a cool response from Bagir, who said there was a general lack of senior judges (the Post, June 18).

As the legal and judicial system in the country has not been reformed, is there any point in holding a Fourth Law Summit? The answer to this question is categorically no, as although the third summit was expanded through the participation of civil society, including the National Law Commission, bar associations, and NGOs, on the preparatory committee, and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the heads of the law and law enforcement institutions mentioned above, together with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Indonesian Lawyers Commission, to improve the case management system so as to ensure greater public access, the reality is that such access to Supreme Court decisions, as pointed out by another Commission III member, Patanian Siahaan, is far from being adequate.

Accordingly, Laode Ida, the deputy chairman of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), has urged the KPK to investigate the Supreme Court in order to eradicate the court mafia once and for all (Media Indonesia, June 15).

M. RUSDI, Jakarta