As the reform era enters its 12th year, government institutions are increasingly expected to carry out extensive changes needed to advance Indonesia’s progress towards democracy. As one of the country’s pillars, the judiciary has undergone such reforms—but the process has been marred by the implication of judges and prosecutors in several high profile corruption cases. US Circuit judge John Clifford Wallace, a senior US federal appeals court judge, recently delivered a public lecture, supported by the US Embassy and the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia, on the rule of law through the administration of justice in newly democratic countries. With over 30 years of experience in democratizing countries, he spoke with The Jakarta Post and the Indonesian press about the challenges and solutions for judicial reform.
Question: Several corruption cases have implicated those who hold key positions in our judiciary,
such as judges, prosecutors and attorneys, showing that corruption still the judiciary. What must be done eradicate corrupt practices, such as bribery?
Answer: The rule of law should guide society and the rule of law is not something that can be influenced by what a powerful politician, a financially powerful company or a person with money says.
In order to do that, the judiciary has to be strengthened. One of the ways is through the judges.
There’s no question in my mind that the judges are underpaid. There should be a commission or something similar to see what a judge is really worth in comparison to the rest of the society.
Then the government should pay the judges that amount. If we expect the judges to fulfill the rule of law, we’ve got to pay the price—which means [paying] enough wages for a person to take care of their family. A fair wage will also attract the best and brightest to be judges.
Next, the government should also set up systems and procedures so that any judge who accepts a bribe is immediately found out. In this way, eradication can take place.
Besides providing better remuneration to our judges, what else can be done to improve the judiciary?
We give them the tools they need to carry out their jobs. One [way] is through education. I go to
two or three education seminars every year. I’ve been a judge for 40 years but I still learn something new every year.
Education is the way we sharpen our saw. We have to teach judges new skills on how to accomplish that, for example, how to move cases faster through court to reduce backlog. The skills are there, they can be learned. But we have to go out there, give the judges time off the bench to go to judicial training and learn how to do those skills, and adapt what’s learned to the circumstances in
Indonesia.
The culture of corruption is deeply entrenched in Indonesia’s judiciary. What must be done to uproot this
system?
I recommend a kind of commission or think tank made of the people, probably from the media and educational fields, to find solutions for that. They are involved all the time in observing people’s thoughts and finding directions towards solutions.
We just lost a moral compass and we need to get it back. I think no one is opposed to changing their mind-sets to eradicate corruption.
There’s a strong camaraderie between judges and prosecutors. As a result, they will protect their peers who have been implicated in corruption cases, making it very hard to bring judicial officials to court. What’s the solution?
The best [way to ensure] that bribery is not accepted in the judiciary is to send both the briber and the bribee to jail. I think the enforcement of the law against any official who takes a bribe is very important. There has to be some effort made to make sure that the prosecution is transparent—that we know that government officials are being considered for prosecution as any common criminal.
There are a lot of ideas on how to do that. One of them is with a special prosecutor so that the peers of those implicated in a case are not the ones who make the decisions.
What’s the role of young judges and prosecutors in implementing needed judicial reforms?
It is the bright people who are turning to the law as profession that are our hope for tomorrow.
Traditionally, people who coming along and become part of the judiciary are those who have a
big impact.
We just have to make sure that they have a moral compass that they will impel them to reject any type of corruption and become the type of judges who can truly serve their country. (gzl)
