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.