Foreign Lawyers Not Allowed to Open Offices in Indonesia

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Yasonna Laoly, said here on Saturday that the government had not yet allowed foreign lawyers to open offices and operate directly in the country.

He, however, admitted that the policy could not be kept forever in view of the current globalization and free market era.

He made the statement in his written speech, read out by his expert staff Agus Haryadi, at the 9th National Meeting of the Indonesian Lawyers Association (Peradin) and 53rd Peradin anniversary commemoration at Grand Cempaka Hotel, Jakarta.

Laoly stated that the government had retained the policy because of the difficulty faced by most of the Indonesian lawyers to compete openly with their foreign rivals.

In view of that, he called on the country's lawyers to keep improving themselves because the entry of foreign lawyers would be unstoppable due to current free market era.

He added that his office had already approved 48 Indonesian law firms this year to employ foreign lawyers, showing that the domestic legal aid market had been attractive for foreign lawyers.

He noted that although it had not attracted much public attention, the knowledge that foreign lawyers were able to work in the country was actually not new because it had already happened for more than two decades.

The meeting, which was attended by Peradin regional and branch executives from across the country, was held to elect the new chief of the organization for the period of 2017-2021.

So far, there have been calls for reelection of the post for current chairman Frans Hendra Wiranta for the next period. (WDY)