The Indonesian legal system Many thanks to
The Swanker for linking to an excellent article by PF Journey entitled
The shadows behind Indonesia's legal system.
Primarily intended for an Australian readership concerned with the plight of the alleged drug smuggler Schapelle Corby, who awaits a verdict next week, this article sets out the varied factors which will determine her fate. It isn't as simple as we westerners may wish.
The Indonesian legal and court systems have been under the international spotlight in recent times. In a number of high profile trials of a political, commercial or criminal nature, the Indonesian legal and court systems have, at various times, angered, infuriated, bewildered, and puzzled the Australian public by their procedures, conducts, antics and outcomes.
Nothing is ever so simple, and nothing is ever black and white. The Indonesian legal system is pluralistic, complex and still evolving, just like the Indonesian nation. It has been formed and shaped by:
1. The Customary law, called Adat, individually developed and shaped in the hundreds of independent kingdoms that governed the Indonesian islands.
2. The Religious law - Islam, Hindu, Buddhist and Christianity.
3. The Roman-Dutch law left behind by the Dutch Colonial government.
4. The Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.
Beyond the complexity, there are also the problems of codification, implementation, enforcement and, the monster of it all, corruption.
This article is an attempt to inform on these issues.
Read on ...
As I regularly write, maybe I am also a thief. It's easier that way.
Thanks to PF Journey, again, for providing a translation of a poem by Taufiq Ismail..
It's a cry from an Indonesian's heart. It expresses the frustration and exasperation of the Indonesians about corruption in their own country. They are helpless to do anything about it because it has become the norm. No one is clean anymore. Corruption has become us.Maybe I am also a thief.
Original version -
Mungkin Sekali Saya Sendiri Juga Maling - can be read
here.
PS. Thanks to Teguh for pointing out my misspelling.
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