Heru Andriyanto – Veteran legal experts expressed their disappointment on Tuesday with the increasingly graft-ridden law enforcement agencies and the blatant conspiracy between them and suspected criminals, saying the justice system was rotten and even more unpredictable than during the Suharto era.
"During the Suharto era, the system was controlled by a tyrant. Today, nobody knows the direction of our legal system," Jacob Elfinus Sahetapy, a 79-year-old law professor from Surabaya's Airlangga University, said at a seminar about the country's legal system hosted by the University of Indonesia.
The legal culture and the legal system are already controlled by the judicial mafia, he added, although it's hard to find evidence of the corruption that plagues the country's judicial system.
Police are the spearhead of law enforcement so any reform should first target the police, he argued. "Police initiate legal cases so whether justice can be done eventually depends largely on police. Reforms will not work if high-ranking police officers remain corrupt," Jacob said.
Noted lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution, also at the seminar, said the sinister conspiracy involving law enforcement officials and suspected criminals began as soon as a case was reported to police.
"In the case of Gayus Tambunan, when the PPATK [Financial Transactions Report and Analysis Center] filed an alleged [money laundering] case against him, the mafia immediately started working. Lawyers, police and prosecutors conspired for personal gain," said the 77-year-old, who was Gayus's advocate in the former taxman's second trial.
He said he supported the idea that police should be the first to undergo reform.
"Most people attribute law enforcement to police alone, so that institute should be the first to undergo reform," Adnan said. "Today, our people still share the perception that if we report losing a chicken to police, it would cost us a cow to make them work on it," he said, referring to widespread beliefs about bribe-hungry officers.
"In most other countries, police are put under the Ministry of Home Affairs while the prosecutors are part of the Ministry of Justice. But in this country, the two law enforcement agencies report directly to the president who is unlikely to monitor them closely," Adnan said.
Legal analyst-turn-government official Harkristuti Harkrisnowo said rampant corruption and the absence of clear guidance in law enforcement had eroded public confidence in the justice system. "Disrespect, disregard and disobedience are still there," said Harkristuti, director general of human rights at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.
TV journalist Rosiana Silalahi, the moderator of the discussion, said half-jokingly she had asked the organizers to change the theme of the discussion. "Initially it was: 'Is There Still Hope for the Indonesian Justice System?' but we didn't need to hold a seminar to answer that question," she said. "The answer, as we all know, is that there is no hope."