T

he legal world was rocked recently by the arrest of a young lawyer named M. Yagari '€œGerry'€ Bhastara who was arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Gerry was suspected of involvement in a graft case involving the misuse of provincial government social assistance funds and an attempt to bribe judges from the State Administrative Court in Medan. Four others were also arrested, including chief judge Tripeni Irianto Putro.

Gerry sang like a bird and implicated the senior manager of the law firm where he worked as an associate '€” Otto Cornelis Kaligis. As a senior lawyer with a long and enviable career in the law, there are many in the profession who have been saddened to see Kaligis connected to the case.

At his old age, Kaligis ought to be closing the book on his long and brilliant career with pride. Kaligis has been detained and questioned as a suspect by the KPK but has denied the charges.

The case has even dragged in North Sumatra'€™s Governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho and his second wife, Evy Susanti. Where the KPK has caught suspects red-handed and has obtained sufficient evidence, from wire taps or other sources, their duty is to determine the status of the detained suspects as soon as possible. We should be thankful to the KPK for demonstrating that no one, no matter how senior, is immune from the operation of the law.

Gerry, via his legal representative, has stated that he is ready to cooperate with authorities as a '€œjustice collaborator'€. This is a wise move for this young lawyer who was caught red-handed and will facilitate the pressing of charges against other suspects when they stand trial.

By cooperating with authorities in the investigation, Gerry stands to gain, as judges are able to take his cooperation into account as a mitigating factor when passing sentence on him if he is found to be guilty.

The late great lawyer Yap Thiam Hien once said, '€œIf you wish to win the case, don'€™t choose me as your lawyer, because we will most likely lose.

'€œBut if you feel satisfied with only seeking and discovering the truth then I am willing to represent you.'€

So spoke a true lawyer who held fast to the principles of justice and truth '€” a rare thing these days.

It seems that the greatness of lawyers is measured by their ability to make wrong seem right and to exculpate their clients from charges by any means. Has the true notion of the law as a '€œnoble profession'€, as set out in Law No. 18/2003 concerning advocates, been completely forgotten and abandoned?

A true lawyer should never promise victory in a case. To do so belies a tendency to justify any means necessary, including those that transgress the law itself. The type of lawyer typified in Yap'€™s comments is one who practices law to provide assistance to the disadvantaged and to ensure that people'€™s legal rights are protected.

In recent years, the role of professionals in assisting and facilitating corruption has become apparent. The so-called '€œgate keeper'€ professions such as lawyers, notaries, accountants, tax and financial consultants, trust fund administrators and other commercial financial services providers have been increasingly implicated in facilitating and concealing commissions and funds from corrupt practices.

Lawyers and other professionals, by virtue of their knowledge, are in a strategic position to both facilitate and uncover corrupt practices. Lawyers'€™ privileged position of knowledge, of both their client'€™s affairs and the law, creates a tension between the interests and principles of advocacy and client confidentiality and the interests of justice and truth.

It will be interesting to watch the progress of the KPK in this case and the other '€œmega corruption scandals'€ that it is working on.

In conducting their practices, we hope that legal advocates will not only think of their clients'€™ defense and winning at all costs, but also of the over-arching principle of justice, as members of a judicial system whose fundamental purpose is, ultimately, to serve the interests of the community.

Where they fail to do so, we hope that a reinvigorated KPK will be there to shine a light into the dark corners of the corruption pervasive among Indonesia'€™s public officials and institutions.
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Hery Firmansyah is a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Tarumanagara University in Jakarta. Adam James Fenton is a law doctoral candidate at Charles Darwin University.