WB grant for RI judiciary

JAKARTA (JP): The Washington-based World Bank has approved a US$500,000 grant for Indonesia to help develop its economic legal system, including institutions and human resources, over the next five years.

"The grant will be directly provided by one of the World Bank's institutional affiliates in January," assistant for the development of law to the State Minister for National Development Planning, Sutadi Djajakusuma, told reporters here yesterday.

He said the grant will likely be followed by loans from the World Bank, after the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) completes its initial study on law-related projects.

"We will finish the initial study in two years from January next year," he said.

During a 10-day discussion with World Bank executives, from Nov. 30, the organization gave a green light to financing the law projects, including the training of judges, prosecutors and police officers, and the development of existing legal institutions for improving Indonesia's economic laws and various legal systems, Sutadi said.

Ajay Chibber, the World Bank's head of the operation division for Eastern Asia and the Pacific, told The Jakarta Post that the organization is committed to helping improve law projects, considering that Indonesia has shown impressive progress in economic development.

"Indonesia is doing very well on the economic fund and we support major objectives of the country's development plans, including the legal system," he said. (fhp)