M

uhammad Isnur, a lawyer at the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), sat for hours using his cell phone on the second floor of the Central Jakarta District Court one afternoon.

Once in a while, he answered questions from reporters who were also sitting around, waiting for a court hearing. '€œThe schedule is 1 p.m. but we don'€™t know when it will actually start,'€ he said.

The lawyer and several journalists were waiting for the verdict of a water privatization trial. After waiting for four hours, a clerk of the court informed them that all judges had arrived but she could not find a vacant room to use. After waiting another hour, she found a vacant room and the verdict hearing could proceed.

Isnur said waiting for hours outside courtrooms was something a lawyer had to endure.

'€œI have been attending trials [at the Central Jakarta District Court] since 2006 and no significant changes have ever occurred regarding the management and professionalism of the court,'€ he said.

Isnur spoke of a lack of time management at the court. '€œOnce, a trial was scheduled at 9 a.m. but it started at 4 p.m.,'€ he said.

The Central Jakarta District Court handles many trials, including on corruption and general crime, as well as civil lawsuits.

The lawyer said time management was one of many other issues faced by the court. '€œInformation is hard to get here. People do not know how to file a lawsuit as well as how to acquire other documents, like the verdict,'€ he said.

He added that the lawyers of plaintiffs and defendants were also not informed when and where trials would take place. '€œIf there'€™s delay, we aren'€™t informed for how long,'€ he said.

Isnur said trial durations were also long. '€œA typical trial usually takes more or less six months, but it takes years here,'€ he said.

One of his clients submitted a lawsuit in November 2012 and the verdict was reached on March 24 this year.

He gave another example of a toll road case he handled in 2008. '€œThe court postponed the trial for three months because one of the judges went on haj without any prior announcement,'€ he said.

Another lawyer, Wismar Siregar, who was handling a drug case, said delayed hearings, sometimes for days, were part of the job.

He said the reasons were varied, ranging from convicts not being sent from prisons, prosecutors who failed to turn up, and no rooms being available.

The three-story court has eight courtrooms.

Wismar said bad time management compromised the quality of trials. When a hearing was delayed for hours, he said, there was a possibility that judges would try to rush through the hearing as they had another ahead to attend.

Central Jakarta District Court judge Iim Nurokhim said the court did not have enough room to accommodate all the trials.

He said all judges arrived at 8 a.m. and started hearings at 9 a.m., but various factors held the hearings back. '€œWe even have to hold trials at night,'€ he said.

Central Jakarta District Court spokesman Bambang Kustopo denied the court was running at overcapacity. '€œWe have 12 panels of judges here and we hold on average 30 hearings, both civil and criminal, every day,'€ he said, adding that the rooms were adequate.

Bambang said the main reason for the delay was because either plaintiffs or defendants failed to show up.

'€œFor civil law, we cannot start the trial if the plaintiffs or defendants are not present,'€ he said.