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)