Syarifuddin: Digital Justice Transformation Accelerated

In a special interview at his office, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (MA) M. Syarifuddin was determined to make digital transformation his main mission to build judicial credibility and transparency.

KOMPAS/DIAN DEWI PURNAMASARI

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Muhammad Syarifuddin at the Supreme Court, Thursday (17/12/2020).

The Covid-19 pandemic, while affecting many aspects of life, has also accelerated the transformation of judicial public services from conventional to digital. In a special interview at his office, Thursday (17/12/2020), Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (MA) M. Syarifuddin was determined to make digital transformation his main mission to build judicial credibility and transparency. The following are excerpts from the interview.

The Supreme Court has a 2010-2030 blueprint for judicial reform. What is the focus in 2021?

The Supreme Court\'s vision and mission, as in the blueprint, are the creation of a great judicial body. The mission is to maintain the independence of the judiciary, provide services to justice seekers, improve the quality of leadership of the judiciary, and increase the credibility and transparency of the judiciary.

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Of the four missions, it has now reached the stage of improvement in terms of information technology. The modern court is an information technology (IT)-based court.

During the leadership of Pak Hatta Ali (former Chief Justice), we already had an e-court. Only three components have been implemented, namely electronic case registration, electronic payment, and electronic summons to court parties. Toward the end of his tenure, we sped it up. I happened to be the head of the IT working group. We launched e-litigation or electronic trials, but only for civil, religious, military administration and state administration.

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KOMPAS/DOKUMENTASI HUMAS MAHKAMAH AGUNG

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court M Syarifuddin (left) was interviewed by the Chief Editor of the Kompas daily, Sutta Dharmasaputra, in his office, Thursday (17/12/2020).

At that time we were working on increasing civil e-litigation at the appeal and cassation level. Suddenly Covid-19 appeared. Covid-19 on the other hand serves as an opportunity to accelerate the pursuit of the vision and mission. The transformation is getting faster for criminal e-litigation.

Now, e-litigation is only at the first level. So, we created another e-litigation Legal Efforts Working Group. The working group, among others, develops applications for appeals, cassation and review (PK). The administration that has been running is the appeal case. If thus far the master files are sent to court, this is also risky during the pandemic. With e-litigation, the files are not sent, only the soft copies are.

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What does accelerating the e-litigation mean for justice seekers or law enforcement?

What is clear, it increases the credibility and transparency of the judiciary because it will make it easier for people seeking justice. Like an e-litigation hearing, there is no need for the people to come to the court. They can do it from home, and so with the legal effort, making it easier for them. And, our transparency is increasingly open.

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Maintaining and enhancing the integrity of judges is also part of the blueprint for judicial reform. The corruption case implicating former Supreme Court Secretary Nurhadi could worsen the Supreme Court\'s image. How is the supervision?

Supervision is our concern. When I was the head of supervision, we took to the field, and it worked. The undercover supervisor wore a wig, a jacket, and at that time I went to the South Jakarta Religious Court, until I finished examining no one knew.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

The Jakarta Corruption Crime Court (Tipikor) held a virtual trial for the reading of the verdict for the defendant Benny Tjokrosaputro, the President Director of PT Hanson Internasional in the PT Jiwasraya (Persero) insurance case, Monday (26/10/2020).

Our concept for enhancing the integrity is supervision. The public can already report judges or court officials through the Supreme Court\'s Supervision Information System. We also have Supreme Court regulations on Enforcement of Work Discipline of Supreme Court Justices and Judicial Bodies under them. That is to spur the leadership to regularly carry out attached supervision.

The Supreme Court has cut penalties for corruptors many times at the review (PK) level. Actually, what is the Supreme Court\'s commitment to eradicating corruption?

The public can already report judges or court officials through the Supreme Court\'s Supervision Information System.

Not true, the duration of sentences is independently decided by the judges. Let alone outsiders. I (as the Chief Justice) cannot even ask the judges. That is the independence of the judges according to the sense of justice. Therefore, those who have had their punishments cuts are not that many. More PKs were rejected. Even, up to 92 percent were rejected. Only 8 percent were received.

However, if in terms of appeals, many have received heavier punishments. Many have been released at the first level, but we punish them at the cassation level. So, it is not true that PK always circumcises the punishment. ( APA/ DEA)

This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo.