Thu, 22 Jun 2000

Observers urge war against KKN in judiciary

JAKARTA (JP): Legal observers called on authorities in the country's legal circle on Wednesday to apply thorough and strong measures to combat chronic and acute judiciary mafia practices.

Speaking at a law discussion, they said the measures must not only target changing the judiciary system, but also battle the areas of the law allegedly involved in corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) practices while exercising the supremacy of the law.

"There were indeed strong efforts taken during the reform era to improve the judiciary system.

"But stiff measures against officials taking advantage of the laws must also be conducted to assure a clean law environment in the country," head of the National Ombudsman Commission Antonius Sujata said while addressing the discussion on combating judiciary mafia through a clean, independent and responsible judiciary system, organized by the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) at the Sari Pan Pacific Hotel in Central Jakarta.

Other speakers were chairman of the Indonesian Bar Association (Ikadin) Sudjono, secretary-general of the Indonesian Judges Union (Ikahi) Djoko Sarwoko, spokesman of the Attorney General's Office Yushar Yahya and head of LBH Jakarta's operational division Daniel Panjaitan.

The country has seen efforts either to amend or create new laws within the judiciary system since the initial stages of the reform era in the middle of 1998.

Muladi, then law minister during former president B.J. Habibie's era, had established 60 laws during his term of office, including on the judiciary system.

The country has also seen the establishment of independent institutions overseeing the judiciary system, such as the ombudsman commission and the National Law Commission (KHN).

However, Sujata, a former deputy attorney general, is concerned over "dirty" practices by law officials in the country's judiciary system, including the courts' administrative staff, the police, lawyers, prosecutors and judges.

"Since the establishment of the ombudsman commission early this year, we have received about 750 cases and complaints lodged by the people, some 35 percent of which were about KKN practices in our judiciary system," he told the participants, which included legal practitioners, members of the media and activists of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Yushar Yahya conceded that weak supervision within the state institutions had stimulated rampant KKN practices in the judiciary system.

"Since the launch of the adhere to supervision campaign in 1994, most state institutions have failed to comply with the criteria of clean governance as the institutions' top officials never put them into effect," he said.

He, however, was optimistic that the country could eradicate KKN practices in the country's judiciary system, since the drive to combat such practices originated from the government's top officials.

"The war against law officials committing dirty practices has just begun. Recently, the attorney general reported to the police six prosecutors allegedly involved in KKN practices," he said, adding that the Attorney General's Office had also revealed over 200 KKN practices within the institution this year.

Sudjono said the judiciary mafia would not lose its pace in the judiciary system, while the law apparatus: the police, prosecutors, lawyers and judges, were not serious about law enforcement.

"It all rests on the law apparatus. Although the government and scholars established good laws and regulations, they are useless if the morale of the apparatus remains poor," he said. (asa)