Chief Justice Harifin A. Tumpa
We Need National Strategy to Help the Poor to Access to Justice
Chief Justice, the Honorable Harifin A. Tumpa, delivering his keynote speech on the Launching of Survey Results on Access to Justice hosted by PEKKA, AusAID and FCoA.
Jakarta | badilag.net/english
Chief Justice, the Honorable Harifin A. Tumpa, said a national strategy is needed to assist the poor and marginalized to have a wide access to justice. “Poor people face significant barriers to bring their cases to court,” Chief Justice said Monday (19/7/2010) on the Launching of the Report of Survey Results on Access to Justice, in Jakarta.
The launching was hosted by PEKKA (Perempuan Kepala Keluarga), a national NGO concerned with empowering women, in collaboration with AusAID and the Family Court of Australia.
“Apart from court fees, the poor also find it difficult to cope with high transportation costs to come to court. Therefore, a national strategy to help them access to justice needs to be established,” he said.
.Chief Justice highlighted four strategies that should be implemented by both judiciary and the government to help the poor. First is transparency of court fees. Courts need to make the use of court fees transparent for all people.
“It’s very good if courts return the possible rest of court fees to justice seekers on the final hearing,” Harifin said.
The second strategy is quick service for justice seekers. It will very much help the poor if courts deliver the copies of verdict on the same day of final hearing. “The poor do not need to spend transportation cost, which is usually unaffordable, to go to and from the court,” Chief Justice said.
Another important strategy is socialization. People need to know that poor people can bring their cases to court without having to pay any court fees. People can also get legal aids funded by the government.
The fourth strategy is the need for other funds besides waiving court fees. The fund is provided, for example, for transportation fees to the poor travel to and from the court.
Chief Justice Harifin A. Tumpa welcomed the launching of the survey results and hoped that the survey would give important input to Indonesian courts to improve client services.