No regrets over 'Hukumonline.com'

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.