Over two decades needed to purge court mafia: Lopa
Over two decades needed to purge court mafia: Lopa
JAKARTA (JP): Newly installed Attorney General Baharuddin Lopa
said on Tuesday that the country would need more than two decades
to combat corruption institutionalized within the judicial
system.
Speaking at a conference discussing on corrupt practices
within the judiciary, Lopa called the network of corruption
within the judicial system a "mafia" entangling all levels of the
country's legal system.
"It is difficult to combat the court mafia as it involves
lawyers, judges, prosecutors and police. All of these
bureaucratic elements seem to support such evil practices," Lopa
said at the discussion hosted by Indonesian Corruption Watch.
He explained that corruption in the courts had become more
rampant because of the decreasing morality of lawyers and law
enforcers.
Lawyers lobby and even bribe law enforcers, especially judges,
to win court cases, Lopa said.
"And many law enforcers become middlemen in court cases," he
said.
He added that many "idealistic" lawyers had quit their jobs
and changed profession due to their frustration with the
country's legal system, which is plagued with malpractice.
He expressed a longing for a time when lawyers demonstrated
morality and did not accept cases with "emotional" links that
affected their objectivity and reasoning.
During the Dutch colonial rule, Lopa said, lawyers would
reject a case which personally affected them.
"Now, there are no more lawyers like that. The lawyers'
morality does not contemplate emotional factors anymore," he
said.
He then called upon the public to actively participate in the
effort to reduce and root out corrupt practices in the judicial
system.
The people, he said, should no longer rely on the bureaucracy
and law enforcers to cleanse themselves of such practices.
Separately, outgoing Attorney General Marzuki Darusman told a
press conference that the country's legal measures would be
useless in combating cases of corruption committed during the 32-
year New Order administration.
"During my 20 months as Attorney General, I realized that this
transitional period needs more than just legal tools. It needs
independence of the Attorney General's Office, and this will be
my successor's first assignment," Marzuki said prior to a
ceremony marking the transfer of his duties to Lopa.
Marzuki contended that his replacement was the result of
political developments in the country, as many parties had been
frustrated by his efforts to combat corruption, collusion and
nepotism, locally known as KKN.
"I have been dismissed by the President, as is his
prerogative, which does not give me any choice as to whether I
can accept or reject my dismissal.
"But I admit that sometimes the President needs to make
unpopular decisions in order to govern and bring this country out
of a difficult period," he said. (02)