4.3
Dr. Luhut Pangaribuan, Chair of Indonesian Advocates Association (PERADI) – RBA
expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to participate in this conference, also to
SUHAKAM Malaysia for their kind invitation for him to become one of the speakers.
As a chairman of PERADI, he can confirm that the issues to be discussed in this
conference had been an issue of concern for a long-time for advocates, including
those in Indonesia.
Administration of Judiciary – Restoration and Rehabilitation
Dr. Luhut shared the view of Indonesian advocates about the restoration and
rehabilitation in the administration of judiciary especially from his association. Based
on his experience, the condition of penitentiaries in Indonesia is terrible and they face
continuous problems such as the authorized body, namely the House of
Representatives as the legislator was lacking efforts to address issues known to
public.
1. Issues Surrounding Correctional Institution (Penitentiary)
Dr. Luhut highlighted issues surrounding penitentiary in Indonesia which are not new
to public knowledge such as:
1) Overcrowding
2) Inadequate existing facilities and health services
3) Unproductive activities of inmates
4) Insufficient human rights training
5) Low wages for an already insufficient numbers of wardens and prison staffs
The abovementioned issues were developing into human rights violations and
penitentiaries were blamed since they are the body authorised to household
offenders and to manage them. In this matter, Dr Luhut shared his opinion that the
Conference has a great significance as it provides input and inserts awareness on how
to attend the matters in jurisdiction.
2. Judiciary System in Indonesia: Detention and Inmates
Prior to discussing the main issues, Dr. Luhut had briefly elaborated about judiciary
system of Indonesia as well as the concept of ‘prisoning’ in penitentiary which
consists of detention for pre-judgement stage and inmates for post-judgement.
Prison as the institution where inmates serving their sentence, is part of penal
judiciary sub-system known as post adjudication. Other sub-systems of penal
judiciary are the investigators carried by police, state civil servant investigator, state
attorneys and the Commission of Corruption Eradication, as well as advocates and
court judges. In general, penal judiciary system in Indonesia followed the civil law
system, adopted by continental european countries particularly the Netherlands.
Dr. Luhut elaborated further that police, prosecutor and judge which are regarded as
law enforcement agents who possess the authority to decide imprisonment of a
person, whether as a detainee or later as an inmate. Since penal procedural law in
Indonesia provides a huge discretion for officers to exercise detention, such measure
49