Category Archives: indonesia

June 17, 2011 · 04:07

The Lighter Side: Proving your innocence, Socrates-style

While not “funny,” this story provides a good example of the sometimes farcical nature of Indonesia’s criminal justice system. One of Indonesia’s most notorious human rights cases is the 2004 murder of human rights activist Munir aboard a Garuda Airlines flight. According to The Jakarta Post, Pollycarpus, the convicted murderer, has now offered to drive arsenic to prove his innocence.* In particular, he claims that he would drink the amount of arsenic that allegedly was used to kill Munir. Aside from the fact that this wouldn’t do much to prove his innocence (it would do nothing to demonstrate that he did not intend to kill Munir), the judges treated his proposal skeptically. My favorite response: “Not in here. You can do it somewhere else if you wish.” Somehow I doubt he’ll follow that advice.
* Obviously, Socrates drank hemlock as part of his punishment, not to prove his innocence. Nonetheless, I suspect Pollycarpus’ proposal was meant in a similarly defiant light.

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Filed under indonesia

June 10, 2011 · 03:51

Commentary on Indonesian Judicial Reform

Hikmahanto Juwana, professor of law at the University of Indonesia, recently penned a commentary in The Jakarta Post about judicial reform in Indonesia. He makes a distinction between system reforms, which he believes are on path, and personnel reform, which is floundering. In essence, he sees the major problem to judicial reform as recruiting qualified and honest judges, as well as gathering sufficient evidence to punish corrupt judges. He advocates more administrative mechanisms to punish wayward judges. Lisa Hilbink’s book about judges under Chile shows the danger that senior judges can manipulate internal disciplinary mechanisms in order to influence the rulings of lower judges. Still, given how desperate the situation in Indonesia’s judiciary has become, such measures might be warranted. At the very least, it appears this latest judicial corruption scandal has more people talking about the problem at higher levels.

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Filed under indonesia, judicial reform

June 4, 2011 · 17:25

More details about Indonesian judicial corruption scandal

The Jakarta Globe has more details about the corruption scandal involving Judge Syarifuddin Umar. The Bengkulu Legal Aid Office claims the judge took some Rp 5 billion ($585,000) while presiding over the graft trial of Bengkulu Governor Agusrin Najamuddin. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court announced that it would temporarily suspend Judge Syarifuddin Umar pending the investigation.

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Filed under corruption, indonesia, KPK

June 2, 2011 · 15:29

Indonesian judge arrested for corruption

Last night, Indonesia’s anti-corruption commission (KPK) arrested a bankruptcy court judge in the Central Jakarta Commercial Court on charges of corruption. He will be required to undergo judicial ethics training with the Judicial Commission. It’s unclear if this is part of a larger effort to crack down on judicial corruption or just an individual case. It was a particularly conspicuous case in that the judge had tens of thousands of dollars (in different currencies), but it’s certainly not the only case of judicial corruption. There are a few brief articles about the case in The Jakarta Post here, here, here, and here. Hopefully we’ll see on this case more soon.

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Filed under corruption, indonesia, KPK

May 30, 2011 · 23:10

Change in Indonesia’s Constitutional Court?

It’s always been a bit of a mystery why Indonesia’s parliament agreed to create a constitutional court during reformasi. One researcher concluded that most legislators simply hadn’t realized what was actually in the reform packages they’d voted on. Whatever the motivation at the time, now it appears the parliament is going back and considering revising the court. According to The Jakarta Post, legislators are looking at judges’ pensions, tenure, and appointment mechanisms – in other words, some of the foundations of judicial independence.

In other news, Indonesian police are investigating allegations that a Democrat Party official falsified an order from the Constitutional Court in an elections case. The police have been investigating it for a year, but have taken no action. Meanwhile, the official involved is now the Democrat Party’s spokesman. Sadly, that’s Indonesia – corruption making a mockery of the justice system.

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Filed under indonesia, Mahkamah Konstitusi