Observers urge war against KKN in judiciary
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)