News Analysis: Indonesia to highlight law reforms for the next two years

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has shifted focus on law reforms for the next two years of his leadership in a bid to promote legal certainty in the country.

"From now on, the president is putting emphasise on law reforms and revitalisations," Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said in Jakarta recently.

The president expected revamping the country's laws would reduce legal uncertainty among the public and also global investors, said Pramono.

He added that the move would undergird all achievements of Joko's administration in the past two years since he took office in October 2014, such as in infrastructure development and economy sector.

The president's decision to highlight legal reforms has received backing from experts and lawmakers, but some also noted that the timing is too late and the government still lacks consistency in law enforcement.

"A critical comment for the government's performance in the past two years is that it's taken too long to finally focus on the legal sector," said Bambang Soesatyo, speaker of Commission III, which oversees legal and security issues, at the House of Representatives.

Bambang said the government kicked off the plan on law reforms by vowing to crack down on extortion in state institutions after a recent sting operation at the offices of the Ministry of Transportation resulted in the arrest of three officials.

Rampant extortion in Indonesia, which has long been evident from the lowest level of state bodies to the highest, has damaged public trust toward government officials.

President Joko then followed it by instructing Indonesian police and military to remove practices of unjust exaction from both bodies, and seeking to establish a whisteblower system in ministries and government agencies to help better enforce law system.

The government has also launched operations to eradicate smuggling and revamp the country's overcrowded prisons as part of its law reforms agenda.

"What's also equally important is improving or restoring the quality of law enforcement by fighting against justice mafias," Bambang noted.

Aradila Caesar, a researcher at legal watchdog Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), said the government's hurdles in its law reforms agenda included independency, poor recruitment of judges and internal politics within legal institutions.

"Reform agenda within the attorney general's office and the police has not been going very well. Political intervention continues to be an obstacle," Aradila said.

Coordinating Minister for Legal and Security Wiranto has said that the government would release the reforms in a string of policy packages, similar to its previous economic stimulus packages.

"There's one priority and several steps that need to be done immediately to provide a guarantee for the public that the government is seriously handling its law reforms," Wiranto said. Endit