News & Event

Guidelines on Access to Justice for the Poor

The Poor and marginalized need simple guidelines on how to access to courts. From left to right: DG of Badilag, Wahyu Widiana, AusAID Counsellor, Victoria Coakley, and PEKKA National Coordinator, Nani Zulminarni.

Bogor | badilag.net/english

Director General of Badilag, Wahyu Widiana, said poor and marginalized people needed simple and easy-to-understand guidelines on how to access services provided by Indonesian courts. Wahyu made the statements when officially opening a two-day workshop of formulating guidelines for the poor on access to justice, in Bogor (5/5).

The workshop was held by PEKKA, a national NGO, in collaboration with AusAID. A number of participants coming from different institutions attended this meeting. Also present in the workshop were AusAID Counsellor Victoria Coakley, AIPJT AusAID Adviser Cate Sumner, CEO Family Court of Australia Leisha Lister and AIPJT Project Manager Mark Prudent.

“The guidelines resulted from this workshop will much help the poor in accessing to justice,” Victoria Coakley said.

DG of Badilag, Wahyu Widiana:

Prodeo, Circuit Court and Legal Aid to Become the Focus

Poor women and the marginalized must have broader access to justices. (photo: Providing Justice to the Justice Seeker)

Jakarta | badilag.net/english

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has issued a Presidential Instruction (Inpres) No. 3/2010 dated 21 April 2010 on Fair Development Program. One focus of the Inpres is on securing access for poor women and the marginalized on their family legal matters.

The Inpres is the result of the President’s coordinating meeting with governors across Indonesia and all ministers of the cabinet including Director General of Badilag, Wahyu Widiana, the only participant from the judiciary.

President mentions three steps that must be taken to guarantee the poor women and marginalized to have access on their family legal matters; waiving court fees (prodeo procedure), providing free legal aid, and holding circuit courts. Coordinator Minister for Politics, Law, and Security, who is appointed as the program coordinator, is ordered to coordinate with the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice, Harifin A. Tumpa:

Religious Courts Judges Must Fully Understand Sharia Economy Law

Chief Justice, Harifin A. Tumpa (standing) when closing the training for Religious Courts judges on sharia economy. Head of the Supreme Court Training Board, Anwar Usman, sitting in front.

Bogor| badilag.net/english

Religious Courts’ judges as the ones with the authority to settle sharia economy cases need to fully comprehend the complexity of regulations pertaining to sharia economy cases.

“It’s important for Religious Courts’ judges to really understand how complicated the regulations of sharia economy are,” Chief Justice, Harifin A. Tumpa, said when closing a five-day certification training on sharia economy for Religious Courts’ judges on Friday (30/4) in the Supreme Court Training Center, Bogor.

Judicial Officers Banned to Meet With Parties

From left to right: Chief Justice, Harifin A. Tumpa, Vice Chief Justice for Non Judicial Matters, Ahmad Kamil, and Vice Chief Justice for Judicial Matters, Abdul Kadir Mappong

Jakarta | badilag.net

Vice Chief Justice for Non-Judicial Matters, Ahmad Kamil, warns judicial officers to avoid meeting with parties whose cases are being heard by courts. Meeting the parties, he said, would potentially cause the officers to commit irregularities in performing their duties.

“This must be done to make sure the bureaucracy reform in the Supreme Court run perfectly,” Ahmad Kamil said when giving guidance at the inauguration of Vice Chief Judge of PTA (High Religious Court) Surabaya on Monday (26/4/10).

Deputy Chief Justice for Religious Courts Affairs

Courts Must Seriously Develop Websites for Transparency

Jakarta | badilag.net/english

Deputy Chief Justice for Religious Courts Affairs, Andi Syamsu Alam, urges Religious Courts to maximize the use of websites to help improve the transparency of judiciaries.

“I urge all Religious Courts to seriously use websites. If all websites, which are already available at almost all Religious Courts, are highly developed, the transparency that people demand will be achieved,” he said Wednesday (28/4) at his working room in the Supreme Court building Jakarta.

“Court verdicts must be immediately published on the web. People should know judges who are hearing their cases and the case-handling process as well as the verdicts. All must be disclosed transparently.”