U.S. extends grants for RI's legal development
U.S. extends grants for RI's legal development
JAKARTA (JP): The Asia Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) yesterday signed an agreement to extend two-year grants worth US$210,000 (Rp 483 million) for the development of Indonesia's legal system.
The aid is to be used to compile all of the Supreme Court's decisions into a book and for the development of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system, an out-of-court process to settle disputes. It is already widely practiced in many countries.
The grants were given through the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas). Jill Tucker represented the Asia Foundation and the USAID and Sutadi Djajakusuma represented Bappenas at the grants' signing ceremony yesterday.
Sutadi welcomed the initiative to compile all the decisions made by the Supreme Court into a book as it would make them more accessible to judges wanting to use them as precedents.
Tucker said the ADR principles have long been used in Indonesia, citing traditional Javanese habits of holding musyawarah, discussions, and the Sumatrans' rumpun adat, family forum, to settle disputes among relatives.
Developing ADR includes the establishment of a policy paper for ADR implementation, workshop sessions, and training sessions to acquire mediating and negotiating skills, she said.
"We are still behind other countries in the implementation of the ADR system," he said, noting that Sri Lanka, the Philippines, China, Japan, the United States, Canada, and Australia already use it extensively.
ADR will help reduce the backlog of cases in the Supreme Court, he added.
Pieter J. Evers, an Asia Foundation law consultant, said the ADR will save the disputed parties time, money, and energy as they will no longer have to go to court.
The publication of the Supreme Court's decisions will eventually improve the quality of the Court's decisions.
"People will be able to read the Supreme Court's decisions and give comments on them. It will improve the judges' subsequent decisions," he said.
USAID is a United States' government agency established for foreign aid services for developing countries.
The Asia Foundation is a private American grant organization promoting understanding and cooperation between the U.S. and Asian countries. Established in 1954, it has 13 offices in Asia and makes more than 1,500 grants a year to government agencies and NGOs in 37 Asian and Pacific Island nations. (imn)