Tarnished Image

The case of Nurhadi is a sign that dark clouds still hang over our courts. The secretary of the Supreme Court is not someone who has the decisive role in the way the nation's highest court dispenses justice, but the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has revealed another side to the bureaucrat: He has control over how major cases are handled.

In the past, the reform process targeted the corrupt legal system itself when courts from the district level all the way to the Supreme Court were little more than black markets. Case brokers, attorneys, clerks, judges and justices were all links in the chain that bought and sold justice, both criminal and civil.