Court reaches transparency milestone - a million decisions published online!

24 September 2014 marked the first million decisions uploaded onto the Supreme Court’s decision directory. A total of 1,071,781 decisions have now been uploaded making it easier for the public and legal profession to access court documents.

September also marked the highest per month upload with 53,317 decisions published. "This is a big achievement towards information transparency," said Supreme Court Registrar, Soeroso Ono.

The decision directory was initiated in the mid-2000s by the Supreme Court and was followed by other courts below it. At the end of 2013, 98 courts had still not published any of their decisions. However, thanks to intensive efforts almost all courts in the country have now published their decisions online.

In 2013, AIPJ built on previous assistance by organising hands-on training for court staff across Indonesia. This built staff confidence and hundreds of decisions were directly uploaded. Alongside the Supreme Court and Faculty of Sharia and Law of the State Islamic University Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, AIPJ also supported a national level competition on decision analysis for law students. "During the competition period, court staff motivation to publish decisions increased, doubling the usual number of decisions uploaded," said Asep Nursobah, Coordinator of the Decision Directory in the Supreme Court.

Besides motivating courts to be more open, the event encouraged the study of decisions as Indonesian’s own jurisprudence. Academics are now assessing decisions as a central activity in the study of law. The discourse of the law by the Indonesian legal community can also be made more responsible since arguments are now based on published decisions. This is turn can make law and justice practice in Indonesia more fair, open, and accessible.