The Independence of Judges Must always be Maintained

Some of the new Chief Judges of Appellate Courts that were installed by Chief Justice on Thursday (18/3).

Jakarta | badilag.net/english (19/3)

Chief Justice Hon. Harifin Andi Tumpa said judges had to maintain their independence and keep away from any kind of intervention. The independence was not a form of arrogance but purely for the sake of objectivity.

Harifin made those statements when installing 30 new Chief Judges of Appellate Courts from four jurisdictions, General, Religious, Administrative and Military Court, on Thursday (18/3/10) in the Supreme Court building, Jakarta.

Prof. Mark Cammack on the next EMC

The Recent Upturn in Divorce in Indonesia

Jakarta | badilag.net/english (18/3)

Prof. Mark Cammack has confirmed his presence as the keynote speaker in the next English Meeting Club (EMC) that will be held on April 1, 2010 at the office of Badilag (Religious Courts Body in the Supreme Court). Mark, Professor of Law from Southwestern Law School Los Angeles, will be presenting his paper entitled “The Recent Upturn in Divorce in Indonesia.”

“I am writing this paper and would like some inputs and comments from members of EMC,” Prof. Mark told badilag.net Thursday morning (18/3).

Prof. Mark has been in Indonesia for a research on inheritance law practiced in Indonesian Religious Courts. He has written a number of books and articles concerning with Islamic Law in Indonesia. His most recent book is “Islamic Law in Contemporary Indonesia: Ideas and Institutions” (Harvard University Press: 2007) and his newest article is “Discovering Islamic Law" (2009).

DG of Badilag:

Judges should be confident to publish verdicts

DG of Badilag, Wahyu Widiana (right) and Secretary to Ditgen, Farid Ismail (center) conversing with Gary Ellem, monitoring and evaluation Specialist from AusAID.

Jakarta | badilag.net/english (17/3)

Director General (DG) of Badilag Wahyu Widiana admitted there are a number of judges who have no enough confidence to publish their verdicts on the web. The judges deem their verdicts ‘not good’ to issue on the internet due to some reasons. DG hopes judges to enhance the quality of their judgments both in terms of outline and substances so that no more confidence-related reasons in the future.

“We intensively socialize the importance of this judgment publication to Religious Courts all over Indonesia. One big impact (of this socialization) is that judges are more triggered to formulate better verdicts because their verdicts can be easily accessed and read by everyone, anywhere and anytime,” said Wahyu when receiving guests from AusAID, Gary Ellem and Emily Ralney on Monday (15/3).