USAID $20m donation deal for RI courts

USAID $20m donation deal for RI courts

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
has agreed to provide US$20 million worth of assistance to help
the Indonesian government reform the country's weak court system.

USAID on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding on the
assistance with the Indonesian Supreme Court.

Chief justice of the Supreme Court Bagir Manan said that the
assistance was aimed at improving the legal system here as well
as upgrading the human resources capacity in the anticorruption
and commercial courts.

"The funds will be used to finance training, workshops and
other programs to reform court management as well," Bagir said.

Areas of support will include assistance in drafting laws and
amendments, modernizing court administration, computerization of
information systems and training.

The assistance will be implemented over four years.

The U.S. Ambassador for Indonesia B. Lynn Pascoe said that the
development of the court system was crucial to help fix the
country's investment climate and lure investment both overseas
and domestic.

"Anticorruption courts and commercial courts are very critical
components of the overall effort for the Supreme Court and the
Indonesian government to transform the legal system here," Pascoe
said in a press conference held after the signing.

He added that the court system, rule of law and protection of
property rights was "absolutely key" for the economic development
of the country.

Deputy chief justice Paulus Lotulung said that there were too
many loopholes in the interpretation of commercial law thus it
was possible for other people to take advantage of the weak
system.

The government set up the commercial court and anticorruption
court to handle special cases. The commercial court is part of
the regional court system, while the anticorruption court is
managed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

In order to prevent any misuse of assistance funds, the
Supreme Court has formed three committees -- a legal reform team,
a steering committee and an evaluation unit -- to monitor the use
of the funds.

"These teams have responsibilities in planning reform programs
using the assistance, as well as to control the use of the funds
and prevent programs from overlapping with each other," Paulus
said.