Tax judges hesitant to make hearings public

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Although the new Tax Tribunal Law ruled that hearings on tax dispute cases at the tribunal must be open to the public, judges who, for years were accustomed to settling tax disputes behind closed doors, are still reluctant to let the public and the press attend the hearings.

This was evident at a Thursday hearing to settle an income tax dispute worth Rp 1.16 billion (US$130,000) between the tax office and investment firm PT Reksadana Persada.

When The Jakarta Post visited the tribunal to cover the session, it had to struggle through several bureaucratic procedures set up by the judges despite placards outside the court rooms saying that the hearing session was open to the public.

The secretary of the court, at first, forbade the Post from attending the session arguing that it was not for the public. But after showing a schedule paper which clearly said that the session was open to the public, the court official reluctantly agreed to allow the Post in.

Each court room at the Tax Tribunal has its own court secretary, who has the authority to prevent visitors from entering.

Before attending the hearing, the court secretary would ask every visitor his or her intention to participate in the hearing. He will then ask the presiding judge if such person was to be permitted.

Once inside the court room, the presiding judge will again ask the identity of all visitors.

Such bureaucratic hurdles -- even intimidation -- surely would discourage some people from attending the tribunal.

The Tax Tribunal was launched on April 12 this year to end the role of the Tax Dispute Settlement Agency (BPSP) in settling disputes between the tax office and taxpayers, both corporate and individual. For years, BPSP, a unit under the finance ministry, settled tax disputes behind closed doors. This had raised concern of irregularities.

In a bid to eliminate closed-door deals and irregularities, an independent Tax Tribunal was launched, with its hearing sessions open to the public.

The tribunal held its first hearing one month ago.

On Thursday, the tribunal held hearings on 18 tax dispute cases. Tribunal officials said that it could hold hearings for up to 20 cases daily.

Meanwhile, companies involved in a tax dispute welcomed the policy of opening the hearing to the public, contrary to previous reports, which said that the corporate taxpayers were concerned that an open hearing process would expose confidential information to business competitors.

"We do not see any harm for our company if the court hearing is open to the public," said Erasti, an official of state-owned pharmaceutical firm PT Kimia Farma, which had been in a dispute with the directorate general of customs over some Rp 14 trillion worth of import duties.

She said that allowing the public to participate in the hearing process would help ensure transparency.