Former Chief Justice Launches New Book

Bagir Manan accompanied by his wife (center) signing his book recently launched.

Jakarta | badilag.net/english (20/4)

Former Chief Justice Bagir Manan, who is now National Chief of Press Council, launched his new book entitled “Upholding Law: A Search” on Friday (16/4) in Nikko Hotel Jakarta.

The launching facilitated by Indonesian Lawyers Association (Asosiasi Advokat Indonesia/AAI) was attended by Chief Justice, Harifin A. Tumpa, Constitutional Court Justice, Hamdan Zoelva, Editor in Chief of TV One, Karni Ilyas, and a number of senior lawyers such as OC Kaligis, Todung Mulya Lubis and Juniver Girsang.

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“I very much thank to all involved parties for this book launching,” Bagir said.

The book with 325 pages contains 19 articles that Bagir presented in a number of regions during 2001 to 2007. Themes of the articles vary since they were written for different audience, ranging from conferences, Supreme Court’s national meeting, and non academic lectures.

“If you ask me the contents of the articles, then I most likely forgot,” The professor of Bandung Islamic University said jokingly.

A number of figures conveyed their appreciation on the main ideas of the book. “This book is full of bright ideas that we can further discuss now and for the future,” Chief Justice Harifin A. Tumpa said in his welcome speech.

“If we analyze from one article to another, What has become Pak Bagir’s focus is not quite different from ours,” Chairman of AAI, Denny Kailimang, said.

Sebastian Pompey, a researcher from Holland who also attended the launching, said that Bagir Manan was a product of reformasi. “In terms that his thought is in line with reform demands,” pompey said.