Concerned by the rampant mafia practices of both judges and lawyers, the Indonesian Advocate Union (Peradin) is appointing a new leader to its organization, which it hopes will reinvigorate the movement to fight corruption in the judiciary process.
"We hope Peradin can function as an organization that strives to uphold justice in this country," Peradin foreign affairs division head Frans Winarta told The Jakarta Post during its seventh congress held in Tangerang, Banten, on Saturday.
He said that he and his colleagues in Peradin were very concerned about the judicial mafia practices and corollary "chaos" of upholding justice in the country. "We have previously tried to join with other advocate associations to fight for our ideals, but that failed so we have reactivated Peradin," he said.
Peradin was established in Solo, Central Java, on Aug. 30, 1964. The organization later changed its name to the Indonesian Advocate Alliance (Ikadin) on Nov. 10, 1985.
In 1990 the alliance broke up and some of its lawyers later established the Indonesian Advocate Association (AAI).
In response to an obligation under the 2003 Law on Advocates that obligated all lawyers to join an organization, the lawyers established the Indonesian Advocate Association (Peradi) on Sept. 8, 2005.
However on May 2008, a separate organization for lawyers, the Indonesian Advocate Congress (KAI) was established.
Frans, who has been appointed to chair a team to shortlist candidates for the union's head to be elected within the next 30 days, said he expected the new leader would help restore the public's trust in lawyers.
"We are at the lowest point of losing the public's trust," he said.
He expects that through Peradin they will be able to change the image of the profession. "I don't want to hear people say that lawyers are willing to defend whoever will pay us," he said.
Therefore, he said, they intend to reform internally by improving recruitment procedures and conducting training and tests to improve the quality of young lawyers.
Asked about the type of person he expected to head the union, Frans said he or she must have high moral standards and no past records of judicial mafia practices.
Previously the Supreme Justice admitted that most of his judges did not act independently when handing out verdicts as they often interacted with the defendants of the cases they were hearing.
Harifin is hoping that by 2034, the performance of around 80 percent of judges will have improved, as a result of imposing stricter regulations on them.
