Indonesia
ISDLS has consulted for the IMF on judicial corruption in Indonesia
since 1999. After an initial assessment of the prospects for reform,
ISDLS members facilitated meetings in Indonesia in November 1999
and January 2000 under the auspices of the National Law Commission,
and then conducted a three-day workshop on judicial commissions
for the Supreme Court in August 2001. In November 2002, ISDLS
received a grant from the IMF and the Asia Foundation to host
the Indonesian Supreme Court in the US for a two-week study tour
focusing on the design of a judicial oversight commission.
In order to prevent executive branch interference with the courts
(a notorious problem under the Soharto regime), Indonesia’s
law mandates a transfer of the responsibility for administration
and discipline of the courts from the Ministry of Justice to the
Supreme Court by 2004. This will make the courts far more independent
from the political branches of government, but it will also reduce
accountability by making a notoriously corrupt system effectively
self-regulating. It is the hope of the Supreme Court that a judicial
commission can help to maintain accountability by taking on at
least four responsibilities: discipline, administration, continuing
education and training, and research.
ISDLS’s 2002 tour was a component of the Indonesian Supreme
Court’s comparative study of judicial commissions in a number
of other countries (e.g., Australia, Japan, the Netherlands).
Unlike judicial commissions in the continental systems, many of
which have performed poorly, the United States addresses the need
for these support mechanisms through a great variety of institutions
(e.g., the AOC, the FJC, the DOJ, circuit commissions, commissions
on judicial performance, judicial colleges). Through meetings
with representatives of such institutions, the justices explored
ways to investigate and discipline corruption while simultaneously
protecting against potential abuses of the disciplinary system.
During the spring of 2003, ISDLS Senior Reporter Hiram Chodosh
visited the region to explore the possibility of future work with
the Indonesian judiciary.
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