The Religious Courts of Indonesia are Very Unique

Markus B. Zimmer (fourth from left), Wahyu Widiana (fourth from right), and Farid Ismail (first from left)

 

Jakarta l badilag.net

“The Religious Courts of Indonesia are very unique. I could not find courts like these in my country”, Markus B. Zimmer said when he conveys his main purpose to visit Badilag, Thursday (24/3/2011). Markus aims to know the case management applied in the religious courts.

Markus B. Zimmer, as an Advisory Council Chair of IACA (International Association for Court Administration), is welcome by Wahyu Widiana (the Director General of Badilag), Farid Ismail (the Secretary of Badilag), Purwosusilo (the Director of the Development of Religious Court Judicial Staff) and officials. .

Computerized Case Management

“The Religious Courts have utilized the computerized case management since several years ago”, Wahyu Widiana, the DG of Badilag answers a question from Mr. Markus. “It enables the religious courts to provide the excellence services to the justice seekers”, Wahyu Widiana said.

“All court proceedings starting from an application made by a justice seeker (plaintiff) until the judgment from the judges are registered in a computerized system”, Purwosusilo explains.

“Does the computerized system for the case management run well in all religious courts?”, Markus curiously asks DG of Badilag. “Yes, it runs very well although we find some problems related to human resources”, Wahyu Widiana said.

Wahyu Widiana seriously explains on case management to Markus B. Zimmer

Markus, who is involved in some judicial reform projects in some countries such as the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Republic of Georgia, Ukraine, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Republic of Iraq, states that the Religious Courts have made some important progresses. According to him, some countries still use the manual case management, not computerized one. “It is really wonderful that the Religious Courts have utilized the computerized case management”. Markus said.

Judicial System in the United States

After getting enough information about the Religious Courts in Indonesia, Markus shares some information on judicial system in his country. In America, there are two separate levels of courts, state and federal.

In Federal Court, there are U.S. District Court (first instance court), U.S. Appellate Court (the high court), and the Supreme Court. The United States has 94 District Court in all states and 13 Appellate Court in some states. Meanwhile the Supreme Court has nine justices nominated by the president with approval of congress and senates. Federal Court has a limited jurisdiction instead of State Court.

In State Court, there is also first instance court called State Trial Court available in all states. Each state is free to arrange its own court system. State Court also has Appellate Court and Supreme Court.

“How is the case management in Federal Court operated?” Wahyu Widiana curiously asks Mr. Markus. “The case management is operated in an electronic case file system. It provides courts enhanced and updated docket management. It allows courts to maintain case documents in electronic form. And it gives each court the option of permitting case documents - pleadings, motions, petitions - to be filed with the court over the Internet”, Markus explains.

“It is really interesting to know the judicial system in your country”, Wahyu Said.(raj).