Poor Marks for ASEAN on Judicial Cooperation

 
Robert Sidauruk, Ali Salmande
 
Although ASEAN member nations continue to make substantial progress in integration for trade related matters, this has not been followed by stronger relationships and ties in the judicial sector. This is unfortunate as cooperation in the judicial sector was set as a prioritized program at the ASEAN Senior Law Officials Meeting (ASLOM).
 
Sendy Hermawati, a Technical Officer at the Legal Services and Agreements Division at the ASEAN Secretary in Indonesia, explained that of the numerous initiatives being taken, there are three main program that were given priority by the ASLOM summit of Ministers of Law and Human Rights and Attorney Generals from ASEAN countries. The programs cover: cooperation on judicial systems; legal education and research, and: legal information exchange.
 
Unfortunately, since its initiation in 2012, cooperation on judicial systems has not show any significant developments. While there have been discussions on this matter, Mrs. Hermawati informed that there has been no concrete implementation for this sector.
 
“In fact, there are a lot of Supreme Court justices in ASEAN countries that do not really understand ASEAN,” added Mrs. Hermawati, during a workshop in Bandung on Monday (15/12).
 
Considering the importance of this cooperation, Mrs. Hermawati further informed that ASEAN members are currently focusing on several core programs covering information exchange on administrative matters for the judiciary, cooperation between court institutions, and improvement in the adoption of international cooperation between judicial institutions.
 
Cooperation from Outside
Although cooperation between the judiciary of ASEAN member states under ASLOM has been slow, cooperation initiated outside the ASEAN institutions has been more progressive.
 
On several occasions, high ranking officers have held meetings and discussion under the auspices of the ASEAN Law Association (ALA). Even though ALA is considered a non-government organization, its members include chief justices and justices of supreme courts from the ASEAN region.
 
Normin Pakpahan, Indonesia’s representative on ALA, explained that at present ALA is a closed-membership association although ALA is moving towards closer formal ties with ASEAN as a partner.
 
“We (ALA) are currently moving towards being a partner of ASEAN,” said Mr. Pakpahan, on the same occasion.
 
Mr. Pakpahan explained that one of the matters being discussed by ALA in recent years is trans-national crime. At the meeting on this topic, ALA proposed a cooperation scheme between ASEAN members outside of discussions on differences in legal systems.
 
Mr. Pakpahan also indicated that the ALA has emphasized the importance of prompt responses from ASEAN countries to other members in providing evidence related to criminal matters regardless of the legal system. Such cooperation will not result in positive outcomes if discussion on different legal systems is still on the table.
 
“This is a breakthrough. Formulate cooperation without discussing the differences in legal systems between the parties,” concluded Mr. Pakpahan.
 
(hot/kc)