A Legal Locomotive Runs out of Steam

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia (YLBHI), the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, is on the brink of bankruptcy after 33 years in operation. One by one donors are pulling out, its lawyers are resigning, and its chapters in many provinces, forced to close down. There was a time when YLBHI was held high as the legal locomotive of Indonesian democracy, bravely taking on the repressive regime of the New Order. It even stood up against the Jakarta City government, which had been instrumental in initiating its establishment and which provided crucial funding during its teething years. But its accomplishments may well be a thing of the past. YLBHI is now desperately fighting to survive, against the inertia caused by a serious case of funding problems.

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Here, legal aid thinkers and defenders shall fight sincerely, honestly and selflesslynot just to defend the public interest but to advance the cause of reforming a system that has left them, backward, poor and forgotten

CLOSE to these words inscribed at the entrance of the YLBHI building in Central Jakarta, sits 50-year-old Sarmani. The night watchman woefully ponders his fate. For the past few months, he has only been paid Rp900,000 (US$110), hal

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