Ina Parlina, Jakarta – A new survey showed that the country's courts remain mired in corruption, in spite of efforts to improve the welfare of its officials.
Judiciary watchdog the Indonesian Legal Roundtable (ILR) released on Tuesday what it called the 2012 Law Perceptions Index that highlighted that 60 percent of respondents believed judges were prone to bribery. Twenty three percent of the respondent believed otherwise.
For the survey, the ILR interviewed 1,200 respondents in the country's 33 provinces between Dec. 4-16, last year.
Prominent lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis of the ILR said the findings indicated that the country's judiciary remained one of country's weakest institutions.
"With so many corruption cases implicating judges, no wonder only 23 percent of respondents believed judges could not be bribed," he said, adding that 47 percent of respondents did not view the judiciary as independent when handling court cases.
Thirty-two percent of respondents indicated that they believed businessmen could easily influence the judiciary and another 30 percent were of the opinion that political parties also held influence.
Respondents also believed that members of the judiciary were well-paid, thus, could have maintained their independence.
"More than 57 percent of the respondents thought the judges' salary is more than enough," Lubis said.
Recently, Bandung District Court deputy head Setyabudi Tejocahyono was caught by investigators from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rp 150 million paid by a defendant in an embezzlement case currently being heard at the Bandung Administrative Court.
During his 11-month tenure as Bandung District Court deputy head, Setyabudi handled a number of major corruption cases.
The Judicial Commission said that bribery in the judiciary, especially after the recent salary raise for judges, should no longer be a problem.
As a result of the widespread concern about corruption in the judiciary, the government decided to give ad hoc corruption judges a pay rise after the Judicial Commission, which along with the Supreme Court, the Finance Ministry, the State Secretariat and the Administrative Reforms Ministry, called for a better standard of living for judges.
Under the new 2013 Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 5, which was signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Jan. 10, an ad hoc corruption judge in a lower court would receive a Rp 20.5 million (US$2111.50) monthly allowance, a high court judge would receive Rp 25 million and an appellate court judge Rp 40 million.
Previously, an ad hoc corruption judge in a lower court received an allowance of Rp 13 million a month, whereas a high court judge received Rp 16 million and an appellate court judge Rp 22 million.
The Supreme Court developed a Blueprint on Judicial Reform in 2003 that was renewed in 2010 as guidelines for judicial reforms until 2035.
Overall, the survey gave the country 4.53 out of a maximum score of 10 for perceived corruption.
"4.53 out of 10 is bad considering that we gained our independence 65 years ago," Todung said.