Hanns Seidel Foundation, in cooperation with Center for Indonesian Constitutional Jurisprudence (CIC-Jure) and Indonesian Bar Association (IKADIN), held a discussion panel on ”the Urgency of Bar Association Reform in Accordance with the Indonesia Constitution of UUD 1945” in Jakarta, on 12th of June, 2012. The seminar entails the discussion to amend the existing law No. 18 of 2003 pertaining to the existence of bar association. The discussion has attracted 110 participants coming from various backgrounds, such as the media, NGO, university, Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Judiciary institutions and advocates.

Currently, there is only one bar association recognized by the Indonesian government, with the Association of Indonesian Advocates (PERADI) being recognized as the sole bar association in Indonesia. As the official bar association of Indonesia, PERADI assumes the duty of Supreme Court and Justice Department in regulating the bar exam, certification, monitoring and license distribution for Indonesian lawyers and advocates. However, conflicts between advocates caused friction within the organization that eventually led some of the PERADI members breaking off into smaller associations. However, regardless of the emergence of new bar associations, PERADI is still given the title as the sole official bar association in Indonesia.

As a result of the conflicts, Indonesia’s status in International Bar Association has been demoted from full membership to merely an observer. Conflicts within bar associations also lead to degrading quality of bar associations through commercialization. As a result, the bar associations fail to produce the best professional advocates, but there is abundance in the number of advocates in Indonesia. Moreover, it causes many disadvantages for justice seekers in Indonesia. In order to avoid further conflicts, the panel discussion discussed the potential solutions to the problems to be submitted to legislative as an academic draft for the amendment of the advocate law. The discussion panel was led by four distinguished speakers:

1. Prof. Dr. Laica Marzuki, former Constitutional Court Judge,  former Supreme Court Chief Justice
2. Dr. Maruarar Siahaan, former Constitutional Court Judge, former Supreme Court Chief Justice
3. Dr. Todung Mulya Lubis, President of IKADIN, Senior Advocate,
4. Nudirman Munir, S.H., member of Parliament RI
5. Dr. Akil Mochtar, S.H, Constitutional Court Judge

Each of the distinguished speakers provided unique insights on the current state of bar associations in Indonesia. Concerns such as the quality of bar associations, the independency of advocates, the future of bar associations and ways to amend the advocate law were addressed during the discussion. Most participants seem to agree that it is needed to improve the structure of the bar associations to strengthen the capacity and status of Indonesian advocates.