From: Sebastiaan Pompe, Leiden, Netherlands
Program Manager of the National Legal Reform Program
In February 2011, one of Jakarta's most prominent defenders, a favorite of the international community, told foreign delegations that the main reason for Indonesia's lack of legal certainty was the Supreme Court's failure to publish its rulings. .
This is something that is often heard in the legal community. In a statement,
media and publications Indonesian lawyers often accuse courts of legal uncertainty, citing the lack of published court decisions as the main reason .
media and publications Indonesian lawyers often accuse courts of legal uncertainty, citing the lack of published court decisions as the main reason .
In fact, as of February 2011, there were 22,437 rulings on the Court of Cassation's website. This is more than all the decisions of the Supreme Courts of the United States, the Netherlands and Australia in the last decade.
In fact, these are more decisions than the US Supreme Court has issued in the last hundred years.
The last decision was uploaded yesterday ( www.cepatan.mahkamahagung.go.id/ ). There are no published decisions of many other Indonesian courts in this wide collection.
Thus, the Constitutional Court publishes all its decisions on its website (www.mahkamahkonsstitution.go.id), the Court has published all its decisions in paper format since 1998 (Editor Tatanusa www.tatanusa.co.id), and the decisions are published in each published on the court's website, which in many cases is very large (see quarterly bulletin, March 4, 2011), evaluation of all published court websites, see Muhammad Faiz Aziz, Mega Ramadhani et al. Tatanusa 2011)). As a result, religious courts in Surabaya issued 2,814 rulings in 2010 (http://www.pa-surabaya.go.id/) and about 340 religious courts published their rulings on their websites.
In addition, in recent decades, court rulings have been published in journals such as Indonesian Jurisprudence, Varia Peradilan, Hukum and Development of Hukum, as well as in private collections such as Chidir Ali, Setiawan, or more recently on MTI series. corruption. hal.
This collection is sometimes significant: for more than 30 years, the Monthly Varia Court has published (and still does) 5-10 decisions in each issue, and there should be about 3,000 decisions.
Judicial bodies that are open to the public have not always been adequately evaluated, but in recent years the Supreme Court in particular has produced extensive publications that go back in time.
In short, modern Indonesia therefore has a very large and very updated collection of published court decisions.
Why don't lawyers in this country, including the most prominent ones, understand this reality?
This problem is even more astonishing, because the publication of large-scale court decisions is not something new, as we have seen, but has developed since the first days of the reform, more than a decade ago.
So why should lawyers ignore the richness of legal information they have?
Why should they tell foreign guests that this court decision does not exist and is in fact the main cause of legal uncertainty?
One conclusion is that if lawyers are unaware of this extensive collection of court decisions, their legal practice may not include reading court records.
These records, in fact, suggest that the tens of thousands of court rulings published today have nothing to do with the work of lawyers in Indonesia.
In this situation, it is hypocritical for Indonesian lawyers to complain about the lack of a court decision.
He also points out that one of the main reasons for the current lack of legal clarity in Indonesia is the legal profession.
The way legislation and courts are held accountable for their decisions goes through a critical discourse, and it is up to the lawyers to participate in this discourse when arguing in court.
Unless lawyers are concerned about examining published decisions, this critical discourse never occurs and is confusing.
The lack of a large number of court decisions by Indonesian lawyers is a reflection of the weakness of the legal profession in Indonesia, which is characterized by less professional division and lack of discipline. .
It is important to understand that in modern Indonesia, in terms of judicial responsibility and legal certainty, this is not a legal issue, but rather a matter of institutions and the legal profession. This is not a matter of court, but a matter of defense.
Of course, the Supreme Court shares the responsibility to apply its discipline.
It does not really help that a high-ranking judge of the Supreme Court states that consecutive trials may be as contradictory as some subsequent trials. As for the legal system, this is completely wrong and not a very clever statement.
Last month, another Supreme Court judge said, "We have a continental justice system, so we have differences in decisions." This statement also shows a complete lack of knowledge about the roots of the Indonesian legal system or what the legal system is in general.
Last month, another Supreme Court judge said, "We have a continental justice system, so we have differences in decisions." This statement also shows a complete lack of knowledge about the roots of the Indonesian legal system or what the legal system is in general.
It is absolutely ridiculous to say that. Such comments are worrying and help reduce public confidence in the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the legal system in Indonesia as a whole.
The leadership of the Supreme Court must be stricter and clearer in determining what the decision actually means. Courts must truly establish discipline in their decision-making processes, actively establish discipline in the wider legal community and beyond, and be serious in maintaining that discipline at home.
This goes beyond the creation of a courtroom - it creates a general understanding of the role and true meaning of court decisions.
However, in the context of bringing the courts to justice and passing laws, the Supreme Court is in favor of the deal.
The publication of his decision was truly impressive, even unseen. In general, the information provided by the courts to the public exceeds the information provided by all government agencies, from court decisions to budget figures.
The judiciary is the most transparent government agency in the country.
Ensuring that reporting and accountability really work depends on the legal profession, and most importantly, lawyers.
Ensuring that reporting and accountability really work depends on the legal profession, and most importantly, lawyers.
They must analyze and digest court decisions, use them in their litigation, refer to them, and develop a disciplined critical discourse between others and the courts. Lawyers can't do all this: they don't read, they don't use, they don't apply, they don't speak.
When foreign guests appeared, the defenders even denied that the decision was there.
I'm ashamed And he notes that the main reason for the lack of legal certainty in modern Indonesia is the fragmented and incompetent defense of Indonesia.
( Source : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/03/29/legal-uncertainty-caused-advocates.html )