Soeharto calls for stronger legal system
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia needs to strengthen its legal system and discard the remaining Dutch colonial laws quickly in order to be able to answer the challenges of the 21st century, President Soeharto says.
Addressing the National Law Seminar, Soeharto said Indonesia is facing challenges from both within and outside the country, and the legal system must be prepared to deal with them all.
Indonesia also needs to improve the courts of law so that they become the highest forum for law enforcement and justice, he told the 350 legal experts taking part in the gathering.
The five-day seminar is organized by the Agency for the Development of National Law, a body under the Ministry of Justice. Attracting the country's top legal experts, the conference is the first conscious effort to establish a national and truly indigenous legal system since Indonesia became independent from the Netherlands 49 years ago.
The task is arduous given the fact that some 330 of the 400 existing legal foundations are inherited from the Dutch colonial government.
"This coming century will be different from the present and the past. The progress made in science, technology and modern management will further accelerate the changes which we are now already seeing," Soeharto said in the keynote address delivered at the State Palace.
"These changes will increase the public demand for better legal services and applications and for new laws which are more appropriate to our changing times."
Colonial era
Soeharto said Indonesia must accelerate the phasing out of the Dutch colonial laws which are still on the books. "The laws inherited from the colonial era clearly cannot meet the needs of a free nation. We have to create legislation that is nationally made, reflecting the principles of Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution."
Indonesia embarked on its second long term development program, spanning 25 years, in April. The 1993 Guidelines of State Policy, enacted by the People's Consultative Assembly in March of last year, places the law as one of the priority areas for development.
"We are resolved to see that we `take off' in the second long term development era to become a nation that is advanced, independent and prosperous materially and spiritually.
"Without a legal system that is based on the nation's own character, it is clearly difficult for us achieve that goal.
The 21st century will see a world that is more open, especially in the fields of economy, culture, science and technology, and this openness will in turn have an impact on the legal sector, he said.
Indonesia is also transforming from an agrarian to an industrial society, and Indonesia is also facing increasing problems with regards to international agreements, he said.
"The national legal system that we are building must not only reflect justice and truth, it must also be capable of answering the challenges we are facing and using the opportunities we are offered."
Indonesian legal experts, he added, must anticipate the development and changes in society. (05)