New group formed to push for independent judiciary

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)