Soerjono proposes changes in RI's judicial system
Soerjono proposes changes in RI's judicial system
JAKARTA (JP): Chief Justice R. Soerjono warned yesterday that the huge backlog of appeal cases in his office will keep mounting unless the laws regulating the judicial system are amended.
Both the judiciary law of 1970 and the Supreme Court law of 1985 allow justice seekers to appeal to the Supreme Court, which has resulted in a huge backlog of appeal cases.
Soerjono said that in the future, the kinds of cases that may be brought to the Supreme Court will have to be restricted and minor cases handled by lower courts.
"The back cases will never be resolved unless the laws are revised," he told journalists after addressing a seminar on the legal system at Golkar headquarters.
Currently there are an estimated 17,000 cases pending Supreme Court settlement and the number increases by about 2,000 each year.
Soerjono said the stack will grow even faster because rapid economic development has also brought with it financial crime. Many of these cases will no doubt be addressed at the highest level, compounded by the fact that Indonesia has yet to pass any statutes of limitations.
In terms of financial cases in Britain, for example, only cases with a nominal value of at least 5,000 pounds sterling can be brought to the supreme court.
"Cases with a nominal value below 5,000 pounds sterling are supposed to be settled at the district court level," he said.
The one-day seminar discussing how to solve the Supreme Court's problem of backlog also featured senior judge Yahya Harahap, academic Harjono from the Airlangga University in Surabaya, and Dr. Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia.
Harahap said the Supreme Court would never be able to finish the cases on its desks by simply recruiting more senior judges, the system it presently employs.
"The senior judges already number 51 and the problems remain unresolved," he said.
He said that the number of cases brought to the Supreme Court rapidly increased when the court issued a ruling requiring district and high courts to complete each case in less than six months.
Credibility
He pointed out that the problem was just one of several things damaging the credibility of the Supreme Court in the eyes of the people.
Another, he specifically pointed out, was the lack of professionalism and a sound work ethic to guide Indonesian judges. Many are dissatisfied with their verdicts and encouraged to appeal.
He also pointed at legal professions, especially lawyers, which often encourage their clients to appeal to higher courts, even without sufficient legal grounds to do so.
Harahap suggested the establishment of an independent mediatory body, commonly practiced in the United States and Australia, to be in charge of determining the worthiness of a case appeal.
He said the body would encourage settlements "in a spirit of brotherhood."
Settling disputes with the help of a mediatory body would save a lot of money and also the time of disputing parties, he added.
Harkristuti, however, questioned the effectiveness of such mediatory body and said, "Justice delayed means justice denied, while justice hurried also means justice denied." (imn)