The Religious Courts Get a Rousing Welcome

The Director General of Badilag, Wahyu Widiana was delivering a keynote address
at Australia-Pakistan Dialogue on Access to Justice, Sydney (28/11/2011)

 

Sydney, Badilag.net | 28-11-2011 |

"... As champions within the judicial system of social justice and access to justice reform, Indonesia's Religious Courts now stand as models for judicial reform in Indonesia ...". (P xx).

"From this perspective, the Religious Court can be seen as one of the most Successful of Indonesia's judicial institutions. This is in some senses, ironic, as these courts have also historically been neglected by the state ... "(p.14).

The Director General of the Religious Courts (DG of Badilag), Wahyu Widiana quoted some important sentences from a book written by Cate Sumner and Tim Lindsey while he presented his paper on the Religious Court Reform in Indonesia, Sydney, Monday (28/11/2011). Wahyu Widiana who is accompanied by Dr.Hasbi Hasan from the Indonesian Supreme Court, is invited by the Lowy to deliver a keynote address on the recent progress on the Religious Courts in Australia-Pakistan Dialogue on Access to Justice.

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As it has been well-known that at the end of December 2010, the Lowy Institute for International Policy published a book titled "Courting Reform: Indonesia's Islamic Courts and Justice for the Poor", by Cate Sumner and Tim Lindsey. Both are researchers from Australia who are very familiar with the Indonesian judiciary.

The dialogue was attended by more than 30 participants including the Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia, the Hon. Diana Bryant, Leisha Lister from FcoA, the former Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, the Hon. Michael Black, some judges and CEO of FcoA, the Director of AusAID, 5 judes and administrator from courts of Pakistan, and some thinkers of law and of Australian courts.
Anthony Bubalo, as Program Director of the Lowy Institute, also discussed on the book of “Courting Reform” after Wahyu Widiana had delivered his speech in a restaurant at Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia. The book was distributed to participants.

 

From left: The Hon. Michael Black, the former of CJ of FCA, the Hon. Diana Bryant, CJ of  FCoA, Wahyu Widiana, DG of Badilag, Anthony Bubalo from the Lowy Institute dan Cate Sumner, the author of Courting Reform.

Wahyu Widiana will be also invited to deliver a speech at the School of Law, the University of Melbourne, Melbourne and at a meeting in Canberra with the same topic. In Canberra, the meeting will be scheduled to be attended by several agencies such as AusAID, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Office of National Assessments, the Ombudsman, FCoA and the Attorney-General Department.

All participants were curious

All participants in the dialogue were very interested in the explanation of Anthony Bubalo and the keynote address delivered by Wahyu Widiana. They were amazed by the rapid progress achieved by the Religious Courts in enhancing access to justice for women, poor and those living in rural and remote areas.

"One big progress made by the Religious Courts is the utilization of IT. It plays an important role in providing excellent services to public and in coordinating all Religious Courts,” he said.
He also added that the attitude and mindset changes of the apparatus supported the progress. 
“We constantly improve integrity of all judges and apparatus by monitoring them regularly. It is aimed to prevent corruption,” he answered a question of a participant.   
Wahyu Widiana got some questions from 6 participants. The dialogues became very interesting because Cate Sumner, the author of “Courting Reform” also explained on reform made by the Religious Courts.
It seemed that most of participants have already known the Religious Courts and their rapid progress.
At the end of the dialogue, after Cate Sumner and Anthony Bubalo conveyed their conclusion of the dialogue, all participants applauded and congratulated Wahyu Widiana. They shook his hand.
"This is a tremendous honor for the Religious", said Director General of Badilag.
According to Wahyu Widiana, the success achieved by the Religious Courts is a result of cooperation between Indonesia and Australia.
He explained that MoU signed by both the Chief Justices played a crucial role in improving the Religious Courts.
"We have lots of benefits from the cooperation. In fact, the Religious Courts participated in many activities organized by both the Federal Court of Australia (FCA) and the Family Court of Australia (FcoA). They include training and women Leadership, change Management etc.” he said.
He hoped that the running cooperation must be continued and improved. The Religious Courts will gain some benefits especially in developing human resources.

(rahmat arijaya)