The President Promise

At the International Association of Court Administration (IACA) conference, in Istana Bogor on Monday (14/3), Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), the President of Indonesia, assured that there will be access to justice for the Indonesian population.

In accordance with the topic of the conference, "Access to Justice," the President outlined the Indonesian court efforts to provide access to justice for the public. Especially for women, marginalized, and disadvantaged children. "We already made the decision to proceed swiftly in ensuring the public has access to justice," he said.

The President also said that Indonesia is always improving its law to provide legal certainty for the public. "Since legal certainty would assure the public and the business community," he asserted.

Furthermore, the President explained, Indonesia is now conducting efficient case management, optimization of NGO roles in legal aid, itinerant trials, as well as exemption of legal costs for disadvantaged members of the public.

"We always endeavor to establish a state of justice and create an independent court, along with fair, clean, and non-discriminative law enforcement," he emphasized.

He also appraised the progress of the Supreme Court in strengthening its integrity as the Indonesian court of last resort. This is being achieved through the reformation of the recruitment system, career improvement, and internal supervision. "The Supreme Court is now perfecting its case management and quality of public services," he added.


Protection of Women and Children

The President, often referred to with his initials SBY, further explained the focus of access to justice for the children troubled with the law, women, and the marginalized. SBY added that several ministries are now working together to draft a standard operating procedure and joint decree to provide access to justice for the mentioned groups.

The government is planning to amend Law No. 3 of 1997 on the Child Court and Law No. 12 of 1995 on Penitentiary, so as to protect children.

"This is the initiative to improve the protection for troubled children and establish a child-suitable court system," he explained. SBY also hopes that prosecutors and penitentiary officers could comprehend the concept of a child-suitable court.

The government is also paying attention to women and the marginalized. SBY expected that the court could optimize the itinerant trials and provide pro bono services for those who can not afford legal services.

"We are targeting 11,000 pro bono case per year for the next two years, since right now it is only 4,000. We will certainly be increasing the number of itinerant trials as mentioned by the Chief Justice," SBY asserted.

SBY hopes that the IACA conference can lead to court officials from Asia-Pacific countries exchanging information and experiences on access to justice efforts in each country.

On the other hand, the President opinions also attracted criticism. Alvon Kurnia Palma, Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia / YLBHI), said that the fulfillment of access to justice is only lip service. He argued that many legal processes are not providing substantial justice to the public. It only provides a procedural solution, which is not practically just.

"The cases of landowner criminalization, beggars, violence against journalists, and the violence towards Ahmadiyah, are all evidence of the low level of justice," Alvon stated in the YLBHI press release.

Alvon argued that the government should pass a bill on legal aid to ensure access to justice. With the legal aid law, the government would provide legal aid to the economically poor along with those who are otherwise disadvantaged. To assure the implementation of legal aid, YLBHI asked that the government establish an independent and credible institution at the level of a national commission.

As previously reported, the Indonesian Supreme Court is currently conducting the IACA Conference. Whcih is taking place in Istana Bogor, 13-16 March 2011. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the President of Indonesia, has opened the conference on Monday (14/3).