Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
By the time President Soeharto's regime fell in 1998, the judiciary had virtually collapsed. Judicial dependence on government, inefficiency and corruption were commonly seen as the main indicators of poor performance, resulting in very low levels of public trust in the courts. To address these problems, reformists focused on improving judicial quality, including by reducing judicial corruption.
However, these reforms appear to have largely failed – judicial corruption appears to remain prevalent, as Professor Simon Butt will explain in this presentation, which draws from his new book Judicial Dysfunction in Indonesia, published by Melbourne University Press.
The failure to improve judicial quality and judicial independence have also resulted in notorious miscarriages of justice, which are also covered. Amongst these cases is the Jessica Wongso case, which was the subject of a Netflix documentary released late in 2023.
By the time President Soeharto's regime fell in 1998, the judiciary had virtually collapsed. Judicial dependence on government, inefficiency and corruption were commonly seen as the main indicators of poor performance, resulting in very low levels of public trust in the courts. To address these problems, reformists focused on improving judicial quality, including by reducing judicial corruption.
However, these reforms appear to have largely failed – judicial corruption appears to remain prevalent, as Professor Simon Butt will explain in this presentation, which draws from his new book Judicial Dysfunction in Indonesia, published by Melbourne University Press.
The failure to improve judicial quality and judicial independence have also resulted in notorious miscarriages of justice, which are also covered. Amongst these cases is the Jessica Wongso case, which was the subject of a Netflix documentary released late in 2023.
