Jakarta – The rule of law remains elusive in Indonesia, despite its comprehensive legal system, due to the lack of a thorough supervisory mechanism, a study has found.

The study, conducted by Indonesian Legal Roundtable (ILR), found that on a scale of one to 10, the country scored 5.12 in terms of the rule of law. The ILR study examined the implementation of the law, the process of lawmaking, the independence of judicial authorities, access to justice and the recognition and protection of human rights.

Of the five indicators, the implementation of the law scores the lowest with 4.61. The supervision aspects, which come under implementation of the law, scored 4.33.

For the study, the ILR surveyed documents in the country's 33 provinces as well as interviewing 193 experts, including lawyers and academics.

ILR researcher Erwin N. Oemar said that the lack of effective supervision in a number of legislative, judicial and executive sectors resulted from corruption, which, he said, was rampant in the three branches of government. As a result, the checks-and-balances system did not function in any of the three areas.

"The corruption cases of former Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar and former House of Representatives member Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq are perfect examples of this," Erwin told The Jakarta Post.

Luthfi, the former chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in a meat-import graft scandal, while Akil was sentenced to life in prison for bribery and money laundering in a case related to local elections.

ILR executive director Todung Mulya Lubis previously said, at the time of the launch of the study, entitled Indeks Negara Hukum Indonesia 2013 (Indonesian Rule of Law Index 2013), that Indonesia had descended further into corruption, to the extent that the trias politica principle (the separation of power between three branches of government) had turned into "trias corruptica", as he put it.

Erwin also said that the government had failed to grasp the meaning of the rule of law. "The government understands the meaning of the rule of law solely as issuing laws. They don't think about their implementation," he said.

In the survey, the only bright spot was the process of lawmaking, which got a score of 5.98, the highest score among the different indicators. "The ideal score should be at least 6," he said.

Last year, the ILR launched a study entitled Indonesian Law Enforcement Perception Index 2012, involving 1,220 respondents from across different elements of society. The study found that on a scale of one to 10, the country scored only 4.53 when it came to law enforcement. (ask)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/09/23/indonesian-justice-still-not-scratch-says-study.html