The Indonesian Supreme Court docket is notorious for its backlog. According to The Jakarta Post, there were 22,315 cases pending before the court just in 2010. Of those, the court only adjudicated 13,885, leaving the rest for the remaining year. Now, the Supreme Court recently announced that it would organize itself into five chambers in order to handle the large caseload and allow judges to develop expertise in particular fields of law. The chambers will cover civil, criminal, religious, administrative, and military law. I certainly hope this reform tames the court’s docket. However, the Supreme Court still doesn’t possess control over its docket and lacks discretion to reject appeals – the one reform that is almost guaranteed to reduce its caseload.
Category Archives: indonesia
Clearing up the backlog
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Filed under indonesia, Supreme Court
Blame the victim
A few months ago, I mentioned an appalling incident in which an Indonesian mob attacked and killed members of a religious minority sect, the Ahmadis. Sadly, the prosecution of the mob leaders has only deepened concern about Indonesia’s justice system. While prosecutors managed to obtain three-sixth month sentences for several of the mob, they also prosecuted one of the Ahmadi victims for resisting the mob and refusing police orders orders to leave the scene of the incident. In fact, according to The Jakarta Post, that Ahmadi received a six month sentence, longer than several of the perpetrators of the violence. Of course, local and international human rights groups have decried the sentence, but we’ll have to see how the Indonesian government responds. One thing is clear – while the Ahmadiyah is a small sect, how Indonesia treats it has become a huge test of Indonesia’s liberal democratic principles.
(Dissolve) Party Time
A few weeks ago, I’d mentioned a report about changes to Indonesia’s Mahkamah Konstitusi. In particular, the legislature passed a law stripping the court of its jurisdiction over election disputes, particularly dissolution of political parties. (Of course, this very function has been at the heart of Thailand’s constitutional politics recently). Now, some Indonesians seem to be rallying in support of the court. According to The Jakarta Post, Pong Harjatmo, a former actor, has asked the Constitutional Court to strike the law down. Pong alleges that, “The people vote for a political party during elections. But after the party wins and gains political control, the people seem to lose the right to control the parties”
This presents an interesting question about the relationship between democracy and judicial review. Many Western scholars bemoan judicial review as an undemocratic constraint on the popular will. However, in many cases, courts have acted to enforce rights that elected governments chose to ignore. Of course, one such case is the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education to abolish segregation. Now, it seems some Indonesians hope their Constitutional Court can play a similar role, protecting them from the corruption and abuses so prevalent in Indonesian politics.
We’ll see whether these efforts are successful. The biggest question is whether Pong and his fellow protestors gather more support. So far, while Indonesians have complained about corruption, the Constitutional Court has been viewed as a minor player. It seems citizens would have to believe that the Court would play a larger role in enforcing fundamental rights in return for public support.
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Filed under constitutional review, elections, indonesia
National courts, local antagonisms
The Indonesian Constitutional Court recently issued two important decisions with the potential to realign Jakarta’s relations with two troublesome provinces. In the first decision, the Court ruled that Aceh must allow independent candidates to run. Unique in Indonesia, Aceh permits local parties and local party candidates. However, the Court ruled that Aceh’s special status did not preclude independent candidates from exercising their rights. Second, the Court resolved conflicts between indigenous rights and democracy. The Court held that, despite an earlier law, Papua must permit direct elections for governor and vice-governor. The irony here is that the court, a national institution, is nominally protecting local suffrage. However, one could also view this as national elites interfering and even rewriting local rules. Indeed, in both cases the national government had negotiated special local autonomy provisions and then allowed the Constitutional Court to override them. For more analysis, see the International Crisis Group’s briefing here.
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The Lighter Side: Brush up on your culture before taking your bar exam
Usually, when we are considering nominees to the Supreme Court, we’re concerned about the judge’s education, competence, and integrity. Now, Bandung’s Parahyangan Catholic University Professor Arief Sidharta, a member of Indonesia’s Judicial Commission, proposes we should also consider a nominee’s sense of culture. In interviewing candidates, he asks them about their knowledge of art and singing. Arief defends his unorthodox focus by noting:
“It’s about appreciating cultural values, like singing,” he said. “People who appreciate art and culture tend to be more sensitive to what’s going on in their surroundings, and this is exactly the quality that we need in our legal practitioners.”
It’s an interesting argument, and certainly not one that graces the pages of comparative judicial politics scholarship. It’s also nice to hear something about Indonesia’s courts besides the rampant corruption.
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Dominic J. Nardi, Jr. 
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