No regrets over 'Hukumonline.com'

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Several friends commented that Ibrahim Assegaf might lose his mind for deciding to leave his prospective career as a senior lawyer in one of the most established law firms in the country.

Their premises were reasonable, as the 30-something man was only one step from becoming a partner in the law firm.

Back in early 2000, "official" government data of unemployed college graduates in Indonesia totaled over 3.7 million people with an estimated 2.4 million job-seekers entering the market, on average, each year.

"Money is not everything; working for a law firm was challenging, but I needed another challenge," Ibrahim, affectionately called Baim, told The Jakarta Post recently.

So, he became the executive director of hukumonline.com, a website providing data on legislation and regulations as well as updates on legal issues.

Hukumonline.com was established in 2000. The founders were Arief T. Surowidjojo and Fikri Assegaf, both senior lawyers who graduated from the University of Indonesia (UI) school of law.

It was the realization of a dream of a group of UI law graduates and senior students, who initiated the establishment of the website in the late 1990s.

"Actually, we really longed for such a facility because it was difficult for us, let alone ordinary people, to have access to the latest legislation and regulations issued by the government. Also, it was difficult to obtain adequate information on their legal consequences," he said.

They decided to use the Internet as a medium of mass communication. They also predicted that more people would gain access to the Internet as time went on.

Ibrahim leads a number of fresh graduates and law students from the University of Indonesia, who serve as reporters and researchers.

At the beginning, hukumonline.com was only able to obtain copies of the latest legislation from the Office of the State Secretary. Later on, it managed to obtain copies of regulations from ministries.

"Some ministries are still ultraconservative. They often refuse to hand out copies of legislation and regulations, although they are supposed to be free," he said.

Hukumonline. com plays an important role in making laws accessible to all Indonesians, Ibrahim added.

"There is a perception that if the laws are published as state documents, there is an assumption that everybody knows about them. Not all Indonesians can access them. That is unfortunate because they have an impact on the lives of all citizens," he said.

In addition to compiling all the data, hukumonline.com has also developed a news section. With only a limited number of reporters, Ibrahim said that hukumonline.com has no ambitions to compete with mainstream media.

"We are focusing on our analytical reports on legal issues due to our limited personnel," he said.

Hukumonline.com also provides a special section for those working in fields related to the law to post their opinions involving any legal issue.

"They usually complain about a lack of a forum to exchange ideas. They cannot use that excuse now," he said.

The website has also opened a section named "clinic", where people may ask anything about legal issues.

According to Ibrahim, most Indonesians have no idea about when they need to become involved with the law.

"Basic knowledge of the law is mandatory for everyone because the law involves all citizens," he said.

Hukumonline.com has become popular with the legal community, mostly lawyers, law school students and the media. According to Ibrahim, judges, prosecutors or other government officials have no access to or limited knowledge of the new technology.

He said that hukumonline.com was still struggling to survive. To date, its founders are still providing financial support for the portal.

"We are providing services to our corporate clients. We charge them for specific data for profit-oriented business. It's a kind of cross-subsidization," Ibrahim said, adding that people are not charged for general data.

He has now been proven correct about his his controversial decision to leave the law firm, as The Asia Foundation, which supports hukumonline.com, gave him an award as one of the country's legal reformers, in April.

But Ibrahim, whose favorite hobby is scuba diving, said little when asked about his feelings upon obtaining the prestigious award.

"I'm pleased," said the soft-spoken husband of MetroTV presenter Najwa Shihab and father of one son, simply.

He is well-known as a down-to-earth person among those who know him. He can still be spotted playing basketball with hukumonline.com reporters or staffers at a court near his office in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on weekends.

Currently with 35,000 registered readers and 30,000 to 50,000 "hits" per day, Ibrahim said that hukumonline.com still had to work hard as they planned to expand the data library.

"We're attempting to cooperate with the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court to publish verdicts," he said, adding that the website had already been able to establish an archive.

The site also plans to cooperate with law schools from across the country to publish scientific publications and theses.

"We still have a long way to go to provide better access to information on the law," Ibrahim said.