Judicial mafia: The courts and state illegality in Indonesia

Abstract

simon butt and tim lindsey Judicial mafiaThe courts and state illegality in Indonesia For decades, Indonesians have regarded the Indonesian judiciary as one of their nation's most corrupt institutions.1 Surveys indicate that its reputation, ironically, has been for its propensity to act illegally, rather than its capacity to enforce the law, let alone deliver 'justice' (Asia Foundation and ACNielsen Indonesia 2001).Popular belief has it that most of Indonesia's judges and court officials are willing to accept, or even to extort, bribes from litigants to secure victory in their cases, with the Supreme Court seen as one of the most corrupt courts in the country.The Indonesian joke -which even judges tell -has the word hakim (judge) as short for hubungi aku kalau ingin menang (contact me if you want to win). 2 It is also often said in Indonesia that corruption within the judiciary is systematic and institutionalized: illicit payments are filtered into patronage networks within which the recipient's superiors take percentages.For these reasons, the Indonesian justice system is often described as a 'mafia' (mafia peradilan) because most bribes are paid as part of a complex web of wellorganized 'arrangements' involving a number of corrupt players, rather than just a few rogue individuals (Assegaf 2002:130).Even Supreme Court parking attendants are said to be involved.3 Senior Indonesian judges, including retired Supreme Court Chief Justices, have admitted that there is much in these popular perceptions that is accurate.Former Chief Justice Soerjono, for example, estimated that 50% of Indonesia's judges were corrupt (Pompe 2005:414), as did former Chief Justice Asikin Kusumaatmadja, 4 although well-regarded lawyers have claimed that the pro-1 Research for this article was in part funded by AusAID through the Australia-Indonesia Governance Research Partnership (AIGRP), administered by the Crawford

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