March 25, 2010 · 12:46

Pornography gets a Pass

Indonesia’s Mahkamah Konstitusi has just ruled that the controversial anti-pornography law does not violate the 1945 Constitution. According to the BBC,* the court ruled that the law was sufficiently clear and not biased against any group. As such, the law is constitutional.

From what I’ve seen of MK decisions, the court does seem primarily concerned with issues of bias and specificity when adjudicating freedom of speech cases. The justices seem to be balancing the right against the scope and purpose of the law, as well as whether it is appropriate for a democratic society. This is fairly normal behavior for a constitutional court I don’t yet know whether the court has (or will) formalize its legal test for constitutional interpretation.*

Finally, here’s a picture courtesy of the Jakarta Globe of a traditional Indonesian dancer dancing before the justices.

* The case isn’t yet available through the English portal of the Mahkamah Konstitusi.

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Filed under indonesia, speech

March 24, 2010 · 20:29

Serious Doubts in the Shadows

There’s yet more controversy surrounding the new book about the Philippine Supreme Court, Shadow of Doubt. Here is an except of a report from the Philippine Inquirer:

A spokesman of the Supreme Court found “ridiculous” Newsbreak editor Marites Vitug’s claim that she has received death threats over her newly released book about the high court.

“I really find it funny there’s a death threat. Let’s not make it a big issue,” Court Administrator Midas Marquez told reporters when asked to comment on Vitug’s claim.

Asked why he found funny Vitug’s claim that she had recently received death threats, he replied: “Well, she’s ascribing that justices will make death threats. Don’t you think that’s ridiculous?”

“I hope it’s not a statement to generate sales for the book,” he continued, referring to Vitug’s book “Shadow of Doubt.”

Marquez said he has not yet read the book which assails Chief Justice Reynato Puno and some other justices.

He said Vitug could go to the police to file a report.

“I don’t know if these threats are genuine. I really find it ridiculous to take these allegations (in the book) so seriously as to threaten the author,” he said.

I haven’t received the book yet, but one Filipino human rights lawyer I know said it was biased and too harsh on Chief Justice Puno. I’ll have more when I read my copy.

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Filed under Philippines, Shadow of Doubt

March 24, 2010 · 13:24

Meticulous Thai Courts

From a recent Asia Times interview with former Thai Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun:

Haseenah Koyakutty: On the recent Supreme Court verdict that seized $1.4 billion worth of Thaksin’s assets on abuse of power charges: 

Anand Panyarachun: Why did the Attorney General take so long to file the charge and why did the court take so long to pass the judgment? Because they were very thorough. 700 pages and why did they decide to go into this 700 pages and read for seven-and-a-half hours? Because they wanted to make their reasoning very clear. 

If you study the judgment carefully, on the points of facts, they were all there. On the points of law, they were also correct. I think they did take the trouble and I have admiration for their patience because they were very much criticized about the slowness of the court decision.

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Filed under Thailand, Thaksin

March 24, 2010 · 13:02

Aquino wants justice

I the wake of the recent controversy over the Supreme Court decision, presidential candidate Benigno Noynoy Aquino III has promised quite a bit when it comes to judicial reform. I thought this pledge was the most interesting:

Aquino said he would also double the budget of the judiciary, and conduct a review of the state of the justice system within the first 100 days of his presidency to transform it into “the true and faithful guardian of the Rule of Law and the last bastion of democracy.”

He never quite explains why he would double the budget. Presumably he seeks to undermine incentives toward corruption and recruit more talented judges. However, according to studies done in U.S. courts and other rule of law projects, the correlation between judicial salaries and quality of judges is not clear, to say the least.

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Filed under Aquino, Philippines

March 23, 2010 · 14:24

Sudan to ICC: Who cares?

I just came across a very interesting (and fairly aggressive) interview with Sudanese President
Omar al-Bashir, the man who had been indicted by the International Criminal Court. Here is one revealing quote:

Interviewer: You seem to show little concern for your safety here, despite the persistent rumors that you are threatened by a special commando that could execute the arrest warrant and take you to The Hague.

Bashir: I feel completely safe in my country. On the contrary, the International Criminal Court has even done me a service, one that I could never have dreamed of. My popularity at home has unexpectedly shot up as a result of this arrest warrant.

Obviously, this isn’t directly related to Southeast Asia. However, I think this story should serve as a cautionary tale to Burmese activists who are petitioning to send Myanmar’s generals to the ICC. Dragging powerful leaders before an international tribunal is nearly impossible without external military intervention or the cooperation of political elites.

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Filed under International Criminal Court, Sudan