Honorable Dr.H.Andi Syamsu Alam,SH.MH

Achieves CUM LAUDE From Doctoral Program of UGM

Dr. H. Andi Sjamsu Alam, SH, MH. (fifth from left) with Examiners

Yogyakarta | Badilag.net

Andi Syamsu Alam, the Deputy Chief Justice for the Religious Court Affairs, has graduated from the doctoral program on philosophical science at Gadjah Mada University of Yogyakarta with cum laude degree, Tuesday (12/7/2011). He is the 68th alumnus of the philosophical science program at that university and the third in this year.

In the opened oral examination, he successfully defended his dissertation titled Capacity of Marriage in Perspective of Law Philosophy and Its Contribution to the Development of Marriage Law in Indonesia.

Nine 9 examiners in the opened oral examination include Dr. Joko Siswanto, Prof. Dr. H.R. Soejadi, SH, Dr. M. Mukhtasar Syamsuddin, M.Hum, Prof. Dr. Abd. Gofa Anshori, SH, MH, Prof. Dr. Abbas Hamami Mintaredja, Prof. Dr. Syamsul Hadi SU, Dr. H. Harifin A. Tumpa, SH, MH, Dr.Arkom Kuswanjono, and Dr. Armaidy Armani MSI.

In his dissertation, Andi Syamsu Alam concluded that the minimum age for marriage capacity is 21 years. It should be for both men and women without differentiation between them. According to him, if the age differs it will bring about discrimination and there will cause a big consequence.

Badilag Issues a Guidance for Information Desk

Wahyu Widiana was signing the decree

Jakarta l badilag.net

The Directorate General of the Religious Courts (Badilag) finally succeeds to issue guidance for the Information Desk. The guidance will be applied to all Religious Courts across the country. It is officially stated in a decree number 0017/Dj.A/SK/VII/2011. The Director General of the Religious Courts, Wahyu Widiana signed the decree in front of echelons II, III, and IV in meeting room of Badilag, Thursday afternoon (7/7/2011).

“What we want with this guidance is to prohibit the illegal interaction and communication between litigants and the court’s officials. We hope this guidance will be applied to all Religious Courts”, Wahyu Widiana said.

He emphasized the importance of Information Desk in all Religious Courts. According to him, it will protect the courts from any deviation that may happen. “We could not compromise to any deviation in the courts” he said.

People are Enthusiastic With Posbakum

Jakarta|badilag.net

Since March until May 2011, there have been approximately 8623 people obtaining benefits from the Legal Aid Post (Posbakum) provided in 46 Religious Courts through out Indonesia. Whereas, the Directorate of the Religious Courts has target for only 11,553 people served in Posbakum. It means that the target exceeds percents from the target. It can be assumed that the total people utilizing Posbakum will reach 34,492 after 12 months.

Badilag itself, according to the Director Geneal of Badilag, Wahyu Widiana, in fact intends to provide the legal aid service for all people, but the budget is insufficient. The state only provides 3.8 billion for 46 Religious Courts in 2011.

“This is really incredible. We can see a great enthusiastic of Indonesia people to the existence of Posbakum”, Cate Summer said.

Cate Summber, a famous researcher from Australia explained that it will be a great investment for the Supreme Court to build and realize a great justice. “Let’s imagine as if someone of 34,492 people will tell the benefit of Posbakum to 5 other people, the number will be 172,460. And it will increase after several years. It is really amazing, isn’t it?”, she said.

The Religious Courts are an Important Avenue

for Women Seeking Justice

Jakarta | badilag.net

“In Indonesia, the religious courts are an important avenue for women seeking justice. Recognizing this, the Supreme Court is working in partnership with civil society to enhance access and monitor their performance”, UN Report said.

A few days ago, UN Women, released its first report on progress of the world’s women 2011-2012. UN Women is the United Nations organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. It was created by the United Nations General Assembly in July 2010.

For many years, the UN has faced serious challenges in its efforts to promote gender equality globally. Gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society. Women lack access to decent work and face occupational segregation and gender wage gaps. They are too often denied access to basic education and health care. Women in all parts of the world suffer violence and discrimination. They are under-represented in political and economic decision-making processes.

Therefore, UN Women was created to address such challenges. UN Women has some important duties such as elimination of discrimination against women and girls, empowerment of women and achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

According to the UN Women’s report, in Indonesia, legal registration of marriage and divorce is not only important for women’s rights within the family, it is also essential for accessing public services. Marriage certificates are often needed to obtain birth certificates for children, which are required to register for school and to claim inheritance rights. For women to access government benefits targeted at poor households, legal divorce documents are needed to prove eligibility.

Members of NGO called PEKKA (Women Heads of Household) faced some serious obstacles to bring their family matters to the Religious Courts. They did not only face problems of the cost but also the far distance from their home to the Religious Courts. To overcome their big obstacles, the Religious Courts in Indonesia have provided some important legal aid programs, namely circuit court, prodeo cases (waiving court fees) and legal aid post. And over the last two years, the budget for religious courts has been increased by $3.5 million, an 18-fold annual increase.

The Supreme Court has also developed a web-based data system and SMS Gateway. The purpose of the system is to communicate data between 372 Religious Courts  and the Directorate-General for Religious Courts and to monitor progress of services.

For more detail see page 75 of on the first UN Women’s report. And it can be downloaded here.

(Arijaya)