Yogyakarta legal aid appoints director

Yogyakarta legal aid appoints director

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Chairman of the Executive Board of the Indonesian Legal Aid
Institute Foundation (YLBHI) Bambang Widjojanto swore in Sudi
Subakah as the new director of the Yogyakarta Legal Aid
Foundation to replace Budi Santoso.

Sudi's inauguration was conducted in a modest ceremony at the
Santika Hotel in the city on Tuesday.

Sudi, 36, is not a new face within LBH Yogyakarta. The
graduate of the School of Law at Yogyakarta Cokroaminoto
University has been with the institute since 1991. He started his
career there as a volunteer before he was assigned as the
institute's public defender in 1996 and head of the institute's
legal aid division in the same year.

"I think he is in the right position and the best choice for
LBH Yogyakarta at present," said Budi.

The new chairman, according to Budi, is well known among his
fellow lawyers as a straightforward person and a hard worker. "He
speaks little but has a very good mastery of the law discipline.
I believe he will be able to do his new job well," said Budi.

Budi, who served for two consecutive terms from 1995 through
2001, said he would soon open a legal aid post in Yogyakarta
District Court, as part of his pilot project as Head of the
Community Service Division of the Indonesian Bar Association
(IKADIN) in Yogyakarta.

"I would like to have my own law office someday, but surely
not this year," he said.

The legal aid institution was established on March 8, 1981
with Sumarni Basaroddin M. as its first director until 1983.
Artidjo Alkotsar, now a Supreme Court justice, directed LBH
Yogyakarta in 1983 to 1989 and was replaced by Nur Ismanto who
served until 1995.

LBH Yogyakarta is known for its consistent effort in defending
the oppressed, especially those whose civil rights are not
respected by authorities, including the military. A number of
cases that have attracted public attention were, among others,
the Kedungombo project, the murder of journalist Fuad Muhammad
Syafruddin, and the former comfort women or jugun ianfu exploited
during the Japanese occupation.

Budi noted that during his term, LBH Yogyakarta received a
total of 3501 cases to handle, 1753 of which were settled.

Bambang said the legal aid institution is still facing
challenges to have the law appropriately enforced in the
provincial regions.

"During the transitional period (1997-present), the law always
becomes the weakest point. In fact, the democratization process
will never succeed unless the rule of law is firmly upheld.
That's why I challenge LBH Yogya to give its contribution, no
matter how small it is, so that the rule of the law will be
consistently and reliably upheld," he said.