Legalculture
7 New directions and trends
The legal developments of the past 10 years have been exciting. Of course there was so much to reform that not surprisingly there is still a lot to do.
The most important and fundamental reform has been the democratisation of Indonesia. The political will and courage of many Indonesians are significant reasons why Indonesia is now a functioning democracy but law played a supporting role - constitutional reform of state institutions, new election laws that are fair and transparent, regionalisation of the powers of the state, the protection of human rights including freedom of expression and of association, the reduced role of the armed forces in politics and business. In my view, and the view of most lawyers I should say, the two most important legal challenges ahead are the fight against corruption and the reform of the judiciary.As has been mentioned above, the fight against corruption has started but not without difficulties.[902] It is a formidable task as corruption is very pervasive in society and very much present in the judicial and legal systems. The President of the Republic has, however, recently promised to fight what he called the �legal mafia'[903] and it is hoped that the fight will indeed continue. Not much else can be achieved in Indonesia until corruption is addressed. This necessarily involves judicial reform. The courts have, to a large extent, become independent of the Government, but now they must become more independent from the parties and their financial influence. Such law reforms will help attract foreign investments which are necessary for the development of the economy. What is encouraging is that there has been tremendous popular support and pressure for such reforms. This is the trend which I find most amazing - the extent to which it is the people who push politicians and other authorities to reform and not the other way around.
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