BRIEFING PAPER NO. 22010
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the Indonesian nation, strongly desires and will work hard to achieve its goals in the future.
1 The realization of a just, humane and democratic
socio-legal system. 2 The realization of a fair and transparent institu-
tionalized legal-administrative system. 3 The realization of an open political-economic system
with a culture that fully respects human rights.
5. Indonesian Media Defense Litigation Network IMDLN
is a network formed in Jakarta on 18 August 2009 by a group of advocates who have worked in the
defense of human rights in Indonesia. This network was organized in response to the ratiication of Law No. 11
Year 2008 on Electronic Information and Transactions as part of a group advocacy aimed at maintaining freedom
of expression in general and freedom of speech in particular in Indonesia, and at providing for the defense
of the interests of users of the “new media” in Indonesia.
6. ICJR, PBHI, ELSAM, YLBHI, and IMDLN submit this
Writen Commentary to the District Court of Tangerang to express their view and give support to the Judges of
the District Court of Tangerang who investigated Case No. 1269PEN.PID.B2009PN.TNG to evaluate whether
in this case which is being examined, the Republic of Indonesia has violated the stipulations for Freedom of
Expression and Speech as guaranteed in Article 28 F of the 1945 Constitutions jo Article 19 in the International
Covenant for Civil and Political Rights See Law No 12 Year 2005.
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AMICUS CURIAE
II. Amicus Curiae in Passing
7. “Amicus Curiae ” is a technical term from Latin that
is perhaps rarely heard in Indonesian courts. Amicus curiae
is a legal concept from the Roman legal tradition that later developed and was practiced in the tradition
of common law which allows the court to invite a third person to provide information or legal facts relevant to
unfamiliar issues.
8. Amicus curiae in the English language is called “friend of the court
”, meaning, “someone who is not a party to the litigation, but who believes that the court’s decision may
afect its interest
”
. Amicus curiae can be freely translated as friends of the court
or in Indonesian ‘Sahabat Pengadilan’, wherein an interested party in a case gives a legal opinion
to the court. The Miriam Webster Dictionary deines amicus
curiae as “one a professional person or organization that is
not a party to a particular litigation but who is permited by the court to advise it in respect to some mater of law that
directly afects the case in question”.
9. Hence, amicus curiae is submited by a person interested in inluencing the result of an action, but is not involved
in the lawsuit; an adviser of the court on some legal maters, who is not a party in a case, usually a person
who wants to inluence the result of a case that involves the wider community.
10. In the tradition of common law, the mechanism of amicus curiae
was introduced for the irst time in the 14th century.
