Robert Go, Jakarta – Legislators, bureaucrats and even retired army generals are opening legal consultancies to make a quick buck.
Formal qualifications are not what count; connections with the bureaucracy and plain bribery are being used to win cases.
With lawyers attaining star status – mobbed by reporters, featured in society columns and TV shows and earning high salaries – it is not surprising that even those without formal qualifications have jumped onto the bandwagon.
For the former officials, getting certified as legal practitioners is just a matter of taking a one-day test administered by a provincial high court and the local bar association. No lengthy classroom training or apprenticeship period is required.
And as the government takes steps towards revamping and strengthening the judiciary, critics are beginning to question the impacts these "instant lawyers" and "double-profession officials" have on the legal system's credibility and effectiveness.
At the same time, there are a number of serving officials who find it difficult to give up practising law because it is so lucrative.
When lawyer A. Teras Narang became a national legislator a few years ago, he said that he gave up his private practice to focus on his new responsibilities.
The chairman of the House Law Commission, however, admits that he still acts as a consultant and collects fees for giving legal advice.
According to him, there is no conflict of interest between his public role and his private legal practice as he does not present and argue cases in courtrooms anymore.
Mr Teras is not the only working legal practitioner in parliament. Local media reports said other prominent legislators, including Messrs Patrialis Akbar, Hamdan Zoelva, Amin Arjoso and Julius Usman, remain active lawyers.
Within the Cabinet, Justice Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra is said to retain a role in the law firm he belonged to before he become a member of the government.
The spotlight is also on people such as Major-General (Retired) Syamsu Djalal, former commander of military police, or former ranking prosecutors at the Attorney-General's office such as Mr Marthen Pongrekun, who is defending Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung on graft charges.
Some experts, such as editor Ibrahim Assegaf of legal portal hukumonline.com, argued that both conflict-of-interest and abuse-of-power issues are applicable.
"These are obviously people who can wield influence over legal decisions, through either their prior or current positions and connections," Mr Ibrahim said.
"It is not difficult to think of how they could win cases not on the merits of their legal arguments, but instead on non-legal factors, such as personal relationships with judges, prosecutors or well-placed political officials."
Bribery, both before and after certification as a lawyer, is a concern. The qualification tests, conducted in each of Indonesia's provinces, allow those who pass to practise law but are not standardised and uniformly monitored.
Observers said that applicants often paid hefty bribes to pass the tests and were more likely to "grease" their way through their caseloads compared to lawyers who actually earned their degrees after years of training.
They added that Indonesia now needed comprehensive regulations on legal practitioners, the certification process and the legal code of ethics.
Mr Ibrahim said: "At stake is not only the quality of legal professionals in Indonesia, but the legitimacy of the country's legal system."