RELIGIOUS COURT REFORM IN INDONESIA^[1]

By Wahyu Widiana

The Director General of the Religious Courts

The Supreme Court of Indonesia

Introduction

In their history, the Religious Courts have been ignored and neglected for long time.[2] It can be traced from their jurisdictions in settling cases among Muslims that fluctuated. They were not completely supported by political authorities. Even, many people said that the Religious Courts are insignificant in Indonesian judicial system.

However, after the Supreme Court of Indonesia adopted a one-stop system in 2004, many significant changes related to the legal basis of judicial administration, position, composition, and authority occurred in the Religious Courts in Indonesia. These changes made the position of the Religious Courts much better than before. The Religious Courts finally played a greater role in providing broad access to justice for people. The Religious courts have also succeeded in restoring the image of Indonesian judiciary as clean, effective, efficient courts in Indonesia. As Cate Sumner and Tim Lindsey indicated in their publication, that the Religious Courts can be seen as one of the most successful of Indonesia’s judicial institutions.

The main purpose of this paper is to provide the latest overview on some progresses that have been achieved by the Religious courts. The discussion on some prioritized programs that are currently promoted by the Directorate General of the Religious Courts (well-known as Badilag) becomes important in this paper. This paper will also discuss some prominent law reforms in Indonesia.