RI judiciary worse than first thought: UN rapporteur

Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Having said earlier that Indonesia's judiciary had serious problems, the visiting United Nations investigator on judiciary independence added midway through his mission that its condition was worse than he had expected.

"I didn't realize that the situation could be as bad as what I've seen," said Dato Param Cumaraswamy, UN special rapporteur on the independency of judges and lawyers.

Speaking in an interview on Saturday, he said Indonesia stood out from other countries he had investigated, with Mexico probably the only comparative case.

His statement comes as a sharp reminder from the international community, which over the past four years has witnessed law and order deteriorating in this country.

Cumaraswamy is on a 10-day mission to investigate Indonesia's judiciary independency. He arrived last Monday.

So far he has met several Supreme Court judges, foreign affairs minister Hassan Wirayuda, officials of the Attorney General's Office and NGO leaders.

Cumaraswamy said the UN had frequently asked for missions to be sent to Indonesia -- a need that arose every time the international body felt a country's judiciary was in trouble.

That was often the case in Indonesia, where, under the iron regime of Soeharto, state intervention in the courts was common.

Of late, however, concerns over judiciary corruption have grown. Reports over dubious verdicts and court proceedings have increased over the past four years since Soeharto's fall in 1998.

Critics have blamed Soeharto's cronies for the widespread corruption in the last decade of his rule. But one analyst noted that when political reforms distributed power to regions and within the government structure, corruption spread along that line. Judicial corruption followed suit.

Cumaraswamy said for a country the size of Indonesia and with ongoing economic development -- "it is something I feel should never have allowed to come to this extent."

Earlier he asked a meeting with civil society members how Indonesia managed to function given the state of its judiciary.

"There are traffic jams, sky-high buildings and you think this is a country with a strong justice system," he said on Friday night.

He said he hoped his mission would make the small difference that could trigger and speed up legal reform.

Analysts have long bemoaned the slow pace of legal reform, doubting whether the government was actually undertaking it.

Cases like the recent bankruptcy verdict against Canadian- based insurance firm PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia -- a company the government declared solvent -- renewed foreign criticism of the poor condition of Indonesia's judiciary.

The Supreme Court later overturned the verdict, but the case appears to have only underpinned the image of corrupt courts in Indonesia among foreign investors.

Cumaraswamy noting a slack of political will. But on a positive note, he added, the government had said it wanted to have its judiciary meet international standards. His presence here was to assist it achieve that goal.

Cumaraswamy has yet to meet Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra whom he called a key figure in his mission. Also planned is a visit on Monday to the House of Representatives Commission I, which handles legal affairs.

Next Wednesday Cumaraswamy plans to report his findings in a meeting with the media. He will also submit his recommendations to the UN Commission of Human Rights and the government, for the latter to respond.

Although his recommendations are not binding, he expects the government will follow up on them, and hopes that judges will take the lead.

Among all, he said, judges should be the first to push for legal reform given the constant public criticism of their profession. "It is in their own interests to attempt to do this (reforms)."

Indonesia must change the image of its judiciary swiftly lest people take the law into their own hands, he added.

Cumaraswamy is a Malaysian lawyer and has been a UN appointed special rapporteur since 1994. He said he had conducted missions in both developed countries and developing countries.