RAFIE JULIANO DEVITO

1806174465 – KKI
LAW AND SOCIETY

OBSERVATION TO LBH APIK JAKARTA

INTRODUCTION
More and more days we often hear, see and read from various media, whether television,
newspapers or social media news about victims of violence, especially against women and
children. Even babies who are victims of violence committed by their closest adults, such as
caregivers, helpers and even their own parents. Violence experienced by victims often creates a
variety of mental problems that are borne by victims for a long time after acts of violence occur.

Let's review a little about violence against children and violence against women. Violence
against children is an act of violence committed intentionally or unintentionally either physically,
sexually, emotional / psychological abuse, or neglect of children. Violence against women is any
action that results in physical, non-physical (sexual) or psychological / mental misery or
suffering, including the threat of certain acts, coercion or deprivation of arbitrary liberty either in
public or in a personal life environment.

One of the causes of violence is the mental condition of unhealthy actors. Conversely this
violence also has the potential to cause mental problems for victims of violence. If this condition
continues, then it will be called the vicious cycle of violence. Special handling is needed for both
the perpetrators and victims of violence so that they can recover mentally.

The rise of violence against children and women is a concern of many parties, one of which is
marked by the emergence of institutions that give attention and assistance to victims of violence.
The Online Proactive Profile this time introduces LBH APIK, an institution that specializes in
dealing with victims of violence against women and children.

LBH APIK is an institution that aims to create a society that is just, prosperous and democratic,
and creates equal conditions between women and men in all aspects of life, both political,
economic, social and cultural. LBH APIK provides legal assistance to women based on the
values of justice, popularism, equality, independence, emancipation, brotherhood, social justice,
non-sectarianism and rejecting violence and fulfilling the rules of environmental sustainability.

LBH APIK Jakarta's vision is the realization of an inclusive, equal, fair and sustainable society
through a change in the legal system. Whereas its mission is to provide legal services for women
seeking justice, seeking legal changes at the level of substance, structure and culture and building
social movements for justice for women. To achieve its vision, LBH APIK conducts the
following activities:
(1) do legal defense for women seeking justice who are weak politically, economically, and
socio-culturally inside and outside the court,
(2) provide training and empowerment to the community and law enforcement officials both in
handling victims and prevention efforts,
(3) advocating for policy changes both on the substance, structure and legal culture in society,
(4) conduct critical studies as well as drafting, making, disseminating and documenting various
information about the enforcement of women's rights and information on ways to resolve them,
(5) cooperating with various organizations and institutions and encouraging the formation of
organizations and institutions with similar vision and mission,
(6) doing institutional strengthening, and
(7) carry out other activities that are in accordance with the objectives of the foundation.

Some of the activities that have been carried out by LBH APIK include training in handling
cases of victims of violence, fulfilling access to justice for women victims of disability, etc. In
addition to conducting activities, LBH APIK also publishes books, information sheets, bulletins,
and conducts research related to women. In addition to Jakarta, LBH APIK also exists in Aceh,
Medan, Jogja, Semarang, Mataram, Pontianak, East Kalimantan, Manado, Palembang, Padang,
NTB, and Makassar.

A. Definition and Role of LBH

According to Ranuhandoko, in the legal terminology, it is stated that “bantuan hukum” is a legal
aid.1 If legal assistance is interpreted separately, assistance means funds, charity, donations, gifts,
compensation, alms, subsidies, donations, support, assistance. 2 Whereas the legal definition is a
rule or law, rules and conditions made and agreed both in writing and unwritten; rules, laws that
bind the behavior of each particular society.3
3. Clarence J. Dias uses the term legal service in mentioning legal assistance which is interpreted
by legal services. Legal services according to him are steps taken to ensure that the operation of
the legal system in reality will not be disiminative as there are differences in the level of income,
reality, and other resources controlled by individuals in society. Legal services are used by Dias
because legal services will cover activities such as providing legal assistance, providing
assistance to emphasize the demand for rights that have been recognized by law but have not
been implemented so far, so that legal policies can be implemented. Dias defines legal assistance
as any form of service provided by the legal profession to the public in the community with the
aim of ensuring that no one in the community is deprived of their rights to obtain legal advice
that is needed only because there are not enough financial resources. 4 Legal assistance is an
effort to fill human rights, especially for the poorest layers of our people, rich people often do
not need legal assistance because the law is actually close to the rich.5 Frans Hendra Winarta
states that, ‚legal assistance is a legal service specifically given to the poor who needs free
defense, both outside and inside the court, in criminal, civil and state administration, from
someone who understands outs of legal defense, legal principles and rules, and human rights. 6

1
I.P.M Ranuhandoko, Legal Terminology, Jakarta: Sinar Grafika, 2006, p. 378
2
Eko Endarmoko, Indonesian Language Thesaurus, (Jakarta: Gramedia Main Library, 2006), p.56
3
M.B. Ali and T. Deli, Complete Dictionary of Indonesian Language, (Bandung: Sower of Science,
2000), h. 267
4
The Foundation for Indonesian Legal Aid, a Guide to Legal Aid in Indonesia,
(Jakarta: Indonesian Torch Foundation, 2014) h. 468.
5
5T. Muliya Lubis, Legal Aid and Structural Poverty, (Jakarta: LP3ES, 1986), p. 9.
6
Frans Hendra Winarta, Legal Aid of a Human Rights Not Compassion, (Jakarta: lex Media
Komputindo, 2000), h. 23.
Frans Hendra Winarta explained that in legal aid there are several elements, namely:
a. Legal aid recipients are poor or economically disadvantaged;
b. Legal assistance is provided both inside and outside the trial process;
c. Legal assistance is given both within the scope of criminal, civil and state justice;
d. Legal assistance is provided free of charge.

The definition of legal assistance to recruit includes:

a. Give legal advice outside the court
b. Representing and / or accompanying someone before the court in a case
civil
c. Defending someone in a criminal case
According to Zulaidi, legal assistance comes from the term, legal aid ‛and, legal
assistances ‛. The term legal aid is used to show the meaning of legal assistance in the narrow
sense of providing services in the legal field to someone who is involved in a case for free or for
free, especially for those who are not able, while the legal definition of assistances is used to
show understanding law in the broad sense both the provision of legal assistance to those who
are unable and the provision of legal assistance by advocates who use honorarium.9
From the various meanings and terms mentioned above, the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, often
referred to as LBH Jakarta, states that in the development of legal aid, there are various types of
legal assistance, including the following:
a. Legal aid, is a provision of legal assistance services to someone who is involved in a case for
free for those who cannot;
b. Legal assistance, is legal assistance to those who are able or not to provide an honorarium;
c. Legal service, is a legal service as steps taken to ensure that the operation of the law does not
discriminate due to differences in the level of income, wealth and other resources controlled by
individuals in society;
d. A Legal Resources Approach or an approach to legal resources which is an effort to develop
legal resources for the community so that there is strengthening in the community that enables
the realization and protection of their rights fairly.
In the Government Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 83 of 2008
regarding the Requirements and Procedures for Providing Legal Assistance for Free, the free
understanding of legal assistance, namely legal services provided by lawyers without receiving
honorarium payments, includes providing legal consultations, exercising power, representing,
assisting, defending, and carrying out other legal actions. for the benefit of incompetent justice
seekers
The definition of legal assistance is further emphasized in Article 1 paragraph (1) and (2) of Law
Number 16 Year 2011 concerning Legal Aid that, legal assistance is legal services provided by
the Legal Aid Provider free of charge to Legal Aid Recipients and beneficiaries the law is a
person or group of poor people. Furthermore, legal services are services provided by advocates
in the form of consulting, exercising power, representing, assisting, defending and carrying out
other legal actions for the client's legal interests. As for Legal Aid Recipients are people or
groups of poor people.
In addition, legal assistance services cannot be separated from the role of advocates who are in
charge of representing clients' legal interests. Article 22 of Law Number 18 Year 2003
concerning Advocates states that lawyers are obliged to provide free legal assistance to citizens
who cannot afford it.

The role of LBH

The role of legal aid agencies in providing legal assistance for free in the civil litigation process
for disadvantaged people is very important. A legal counsel in carrying out his profession must
always be based on a truth, justice, and humanity in order to realize an equal distribution in the
field of law, namely equal position and opportunity to obtain justice. This is expressly stated in
the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia Article 27 paragraph (1) which states that all
citizens are at the same time in law and government and must uphold the law and government
with no exceptions.15 Equality before the law it can be realized and can be enjoyed by the
community if there is an equal opportunity to get justice. Equality before the law must be
accompanied by various facilities to obtain justice, including the fulfillment of the right to legal
assistance. Advocates can also provide legal assistance as stipulated in Article 1 (3) of
Government Regulation No. 83 of 2008 concerning Free Requirements and Procedures for
Providing Legal Aid, which states that free legal assistance is a legal service provided advocates
without receiving honorarium payments include providing legal consultations, exercising power,
representing, assisting, defending, and taking other legal actions for the benefit of incompetent
justice seekers.16 The above rules are emphasized by the existence of Law No. 18 of 2003
concerning Advocates which states that advocates are obliged to provide legal assistance for free
to incompetent justice seekers.

THE CONNECTION WITH THE CONFLICT IN THE SOCIETY

The Role of LBH APIK in the process of judicial review of The Act Number 44 year 2008 on
Pornography

Due to the pro and cons polemics around the issue of pornography, an act was brought about,
i.e., the Act number 44 of 2008 on Pornography, which was seemingly served as the answer to
end that ongoing polemics. This was seen to be an invalid democracy concerning the debates
were not ended yet, but the draft of the act on pornography was soon ratified and immediately
imposed. The rationale of debates rooted in the assumption of the existing patriarchal culture saw
that this pornography act would create such a worsening societal condition of women in
particular, socially and legally. This means that the implication gives the contrary result in that
there will be no reassurance of legal protection for women in particular and people in general
who would be more discriminated than the previous condition. This condition had become the
background of some groups within society in refusing the Pornography Act by proposing an
appeal for a judicial review to the Supreme Court of Constitution (MK). LBH APIK (Law Firm
of Indonesian Women Association for Justice) was one of the organizations, which proposed that
judicial review. It was one of organization that persuaded people not to stop criticizing the act
since it was proposed as draft. This research concludes that LBH APIK proposed arguments for
proposing that judicial review by testing articles stated in the act that contradicts the principals of
1945 Constitution such as: Article 1 section 1; Article 4 No 1 and 2; Article 10; Article 20; and
Article 23. In addition, the implementation of the Pornography Act resulted in the increasing
discriminatory acts towards women in particular. Among other examples is the absence of
specific procedure of law.
CONNECTION WITH THE BASIC CONCEPT OF LAW AND SOCIETY

What is a society? Society is a group of people who occupy a particular territory and speak a
common language not generally understood by neighbouring peoples.” (Ember&Ember, 1996) In
this case the society that involved are the Indonesian people mainly women, which defines
women that are involved as a plural society which means “Social and political interaction of
people with different ways of living and thinking within the same society.” (Haviland, 2000:
805)
However, Critics of the pornography law say its contents are pasal karet – literally “rubber
articles” – meaning they are open to wide interpretation and thus abuse. Pornography is broadly
defined in the law as: “man-made sexual materials in the form of drawings, sketches,
illustrations, photographs, text, voice, sound, moving pictures, animation, cartoons, poetry,
conversations and gestures”. This defines law according to T.O. Ihromi: Law as the aspects of
culture, has two functions; First, rules of behavior -> set the rules for the society how to behave.
Second, the mechanism of social control. law should be sosialized and internalized so the norms
become as a part of the individual and communal personality. Internalization process is not
always smooth, sometimes there are some resistances of the norms. The pornography law was
spearheaded by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in conjunction with the Majelis Ulama
Indonesia (MUI), a conservative quasi-governmental body responsible for issuing fatwa and
halal certification. They had espoused an even wider-reaching bill that would have criminalised
acts of public affection including kissing, and women wearing bikinis. This give law The denial /
violation of norms; will be rewarded with a soft reproval or moral sanction. If the violation get
heavier, the authorities in the society will give hard penalties / sanctions for the perpetrator (e.g.
fine, physical punishment). Sanctions: positive (rewards), negative (punishment), this law also
constructed by communities, mainly conservative than applied to the whole nation, which
explains law explained by Sulistyowati Irianto: living anthropological documents. This means
that law are not only state law, but also "laws" that constructed by the community and live
among them, namely: the values, norms, institutions, rules relating to religion, customs and
habits, and contracts. Law must be placed in reality context. Indonesia seems unlikely to
overturn its pornography laws any time soon, and the situation of LGBT citizens may yet grow
more threatening. The country’s Constitutional Court upheld the pornography ban after a 2010
appeal, claiming the law was clearly defined and in line with the nation’s constitution. Seen as
law includes rules to determine human tendencies, desires or instinctive impulse. The law also
includes rules that protect the rights of citizens against malignancy, greed and malice toward
others. Law is different with the custom, because "law is seen as an obligation of the parties to
the right of the other party that is not only supported by psychological motives, but also by the
strength of binding based on interdependence ... "(the principle of give and take).
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The objective of this research was to find out how far was the role of LBH APIK Jakarta in its
involvement in cases. This research applied library research methodology, combined with some
first-hand information through interviews in qualitative tradition. Most data were gathered from
books, journals, handbook, papers, internet sources and dictionary. And also, we observe and
visited the site in person. I visited with my colleagues from faculty of law university of
Indonesia, and we were received by the receptionist who takes us to the presentation that was
held in a room in the site. We observe and interviewed the representative there and also recorded
the interview, we interviewed ms zuma and ms mumun, ms mumun is one of the owner of the
establishment, the condition of the office is quite tense mainly because there are so many stories
about violence that are handled here and the story is frightening. The challenge that we
encountered in the process is the difficulty to find the building which is on JL Raya Tengah No
31 RT 01/09 Kampung Tengah Kramat Jati Jakarta Timur, because of the location that was
discreet and detached from any main roads in Jakarta.

OBSERVATION AND FINDINGS

LBH APIK Jakarta was formed by APIK (Association of Indonesian Women for Justice), which
was founded by seven women lawyers on August 4, 1995. Since February 21, 2003 LBH APIK
Jakarta has officially become the LBH APIK Jakarta Foundation, based on Rusnaldy's Notary
Act No.112 / 2003. LBH APIK is an institution that aims to create a society that is just,
prosperous and democratic, and creates equal conditions between women and men in all aspects
of life, both political, economic, social and cultural. LBH APIK provides legal assistance to
women based on the values of justice, popularism, equality, independence, emancipation,
brotherhood, social justice, non-sectarianism and rejecting violence and fulfilling the rules of
environmental sustainability. This goal is to be achieved by realizing a Women-Based Legal
System, namely a fair Legal System seen from the pattern of power relations in society,
especially women's-male relations, by continuously trying to eliminate gender inequality and
inequality in its various forms. Based on the types of complaints received by LBH APIK Jakarta
we categorized into 15 (fifteen) types of cases. Of the 837 cases handled there were several types
of cases handled by LBH APIK Jakarta: cases of domestic violence 275 cases, polygamy 7 cases,
family civil 180 cases, 64 cases of sexual violence, KDP 67 cases, forced forced marriage 1 case,
cyber-crimes 42 cases, general crimes 43 Cases, 66 Employment Cases, 3 Case Trafficking,
Forced 2 Case Sexual Orientation, Document Falsification and 4 Case Identity, Child Rights 3
Cases, community cases 12 Cases, cases outside the classification case of LBH Apik Jakarta 65
Cases. In handling the 837 cases that came in, LBH APIK Jakarta assisted the legal process in
the form of Litigation Assistance and Non-Litigation Assistance. Litigation assistance includes
legal process assistance at the police, prosecutor and court level. Non-Litigation assistance
includes: consultation, mediation, investigation, negotiation, community empowerment, legal
counseling, legal research, drafting legal documents, outside court assistance (Psychological,
LPSK, safe houses, hospitals, government and private institutions) and documentation of cases
case.
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

From this observation, I conclude that LBH APIK is crucial to the continuation of rights of
women in Indonesia because LBH APIK gave pro-bono assistance to someone in need that
cannot pay for a legal expert. LBH APIK also keeps it mind open towards cases that are
controversial, like LGBT Cases which is good for the society because the LBH doesn’t take any
stance in any perspective, religion or culture. LBH APIK also receives government support
therefore increasing the accountability of the institution and handled by many paralegals whom
are highly expertise in the field. I suggest that LBH APIK are more socialized within our society
so that everyone in all classes and groups of the society can access their services, also the
government needs to support LBH APIK more and invest more towards this institution because
there are not many institutions that supports women’s rights.