New group formed to push for independent judiciary

JAKARTA (JP): A group of legal experts established on Monday a pressure group to push for an independent judiciary and a freer and more professional justice system.

The group, called the Indonesian Institute for an Independent Judiciary, would concentrate on compelling government and legislators to form a concrete agenda on law reforms, lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution told a media conference. The announcement was made after a seminar on seeking an independent judiciary.

The judiciary has long been criticized for being a tool of the government, and giving favorable verdicts to those with powerful connections.

Among founders of the group were lawyers Todung Mulya Lubis, Frans Hendra Winarta, Mas Achmad Santosa, J. Sahetapy, Bambang Widjojanto, activist Benny K. Harman, press expert Atmakusumah Sastrawinata and Benjamin Mangkoedilaga, the former chief of the Jakarta Administrative Court and a member of the National Commission on Human Rights.

Adnan said the group would be composed of legal experts, bureaucrats, judges, lawyers, police, non-government organizations and university representatives.

Benny was appointed coordinator of the group's executive board, which included lawyers Dwiyanto Prihartono and Dadang Trisasongko.

The group is to start running comparative judiciary studies with international organizations such as the United Nations and the Center for Independent Judges and Lawyers.

"Advocacy, through public campaigns and discussions, to share a common platform on judiciary matters will become another priority," Benny said.

"This is an open group which welcomes all components of society who want to see more independent and professional judges," he said.

Dato' Param Cumaraswamy, UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, who also spoke at the seminar, welcomed the establishment of the group.

"The United Nations supports all efforts to create better law enforcement and good governance," he said.

In Monday's seminar, legal experts called for an immediate reform of the country's judiciary, and said that it should include the revocation of several laws which they said obstructed judges' independence.

Noted sociologist Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto, former chief of the Supreme Court Purwoto Gandasubrata and lawyer Todung, all maintained that without concrete reform of the judicial system, the goal of creating a state based on the supremacy of law would remain a distant dream.

One major issue which the forum said needed addressing was the 1945 Constitution, particularly Articles 24 and 25.

The articles stipulate that the country's judicial power is exercised by the Supreme Court and other judicial bodies. However, it stopped short of describing how this would work, saying only that it would be regulated by laws.

In the seminar, it was agreed that the articles were prone to misinterpretation, and had been abused by the executive branch to dominate the judiciary for its own interest.

Such constitutional weaknesses, Todung said, are now being repeated, as reflected by a new decree of the People's Consultative Assembly. The 1998 decree on Development Reform Guidelines stressed the need for a clean and fair judiciary system through firm separation of executive and judiciary functions.

But this was "a classic political statement put in a regulation," Todung said. Such a statement was never clarified during 32 years of the New Order, he said.

"The fact is, judges are still civil servants who work for the Ministry of Justice," he said.

He was referring to the widely-cited problem of the lack of independence among the judiciary, which has often been criticized for its rulings favoring the powerful.

"Such favors have resulted in people's distrust towards the law and security enforcers, as evident in recent outbreaks of violence," Bambang Widjojanto, chairman of Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, added. (edt)