A study of five key aspects of Indonesia’s legal system has concluded that a lack of adequate supervisory mechanisms is to blame for the perceived absence of rule of law.
The Indonesian Legal Roundtable’s Indonesian Rule of Law Index 2013 (Indeks Negara Hukum Indonesia 2013) was launched in Jakarta on 19 September 2014. According to a Jakarta Post article, the study reviewed lawmaking, implementation of the law, independence of the judiciary, access to justice and the protection of human rights. The study was conducted by interviewing 193 experts (including lawyers and academics) and reviewing documents. One key finding was that the rule of law is not observed in Indonesia. And that inadequate supervision of all three branches of government - the executive, legislature and judiciary - is to blame.
The rule of law is espoused in Indonesia’s Constitution (article 1(3) of the Constitution 1945). But this is not the first time Indonesia’s legal system has been criticised for its absence (see, for example, our post on the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index Report 2014 here). And while the ILR study calls for more supervision, the Judicial Commission’s budget was recently cut by some 27% (see our post here).
With the incoming Jokowi administration scheduled to take office on 20 October, we will soon see whether a change of government will see the introduction of new measures to buck this trend.