RI needs to adjust laws with UN resolutions

SEMARANG (JP): Indonesia needs to adjust its legal rulings so that they are more congruent with the resolutions of the United Nations' Congress on Prevention of Crime and Criminal Justice, an expert says.

Muladi, chairman of the Indonesian delegation to the commission's meeting in Vienna last month, said the legal authorities should also introduce the international resolutions which are not against Indonesia's national interests.

In addition, "Indonesia needs to be more responsive toward the Commission's recommendations ... including establishing a committee to exclusively deal with the issues of crime prevention and criminal justice," he suggested yesterday.

Muladi, a member of the National Commission of Human Rights, led the delegation of Indonesian legal experts attending the May 21 - 31 meeting of the Congress, in which 39 member countries took part. A total of 59 UN members attended as observers. In addition, two non-member observers, and representatives of 10 UN agencies, 10 inter-government institutes, and 41 non-governmental organizations also attended.

Last year's Congress meeting was held in Cairo, during which participants pledged tighter cooperation to combat the increase of terrorism, corruption and environmental and transnational crimes.

The Congress also approved resolutions linking terrorism to organized crime and recommended that legislation should be updated to keep up with the new phenomena of computer crime and crimes against the environment.

Yesterday, Muladi said that the participants underlined the important role of the Congress in mobilizing international efforts in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice.

"The participants also called for the establishment of an International Code of Conduct to facilitate governments in the fight against corruption," he said.

"The participants believe that concrete steps are needed to fight corruption in order to improve the image of government officials," according to Muladi, who is also rector of Diponegoro University here.

The participants called for greater cooperation in fighting organized transnational crimes such as money laundering. They also requested exchanges of information on individual countries' campaigns against urban crime, juvenile delinquency and violence, he said.

Muladi's delegation included Indonesia's Ambassador to Austria, Sumaryo Suryokusumo, Director general of the Administrative Court of the Ministry of Justice Lies Sugondo and East Java Police Chief Sumarsono.

The other delegates included Army Boer of the Attorney General's Office, Bogor district court judge Djoko Sarwoko, and the Indonesian Councillor in Vienna, I Gde Djelantik. (har/01)