From Means-Tested Legal Aid to Universal Court Helpdesk? A ‘Law in Action’ Study of Posbakum Implementation in an Indonesian Religious Court
Keywords:
access to justice; legal pluralism; Posbakum; PERMA No. 1/2014; Religious Courts; prodeo; cerai gugat.Abstract
This article examines how a state-issued legal-aid policy is translated into practice within Indonesia’s plural justice system, focusing on the Legal Aid Post (Posbakum) at the Religious Court of Kotamobagu. Formally, Supreme Court Regulation (PERMA) No. 1/2014 restricts Posbakum and fee-waiver services to economically disadvantaged court users, who must prove ‘inability’ through a certificate of indigency (SKTM) or other social-assistance documents. Empirically, however, the Kotamobagu court adopts an inclusive interpretation: ‘inability’ is treated not only as economic hardship but also as legal incapacity (lack of legal knowledge), leading the court to provide Posbakum services without requiring SKTM. Using a qualitative empirical-legal approach (observations, interviews with court leadership and Posbakum personnel, and documentary review of annual case reports, 2022–2024), the study finds two concurrent outcomes. First, service uptake rose markedly: in 2022 the court received 459 cases and provided 441 Posbakum services; in 2023 463 cases and 459 services; and in 2024 449 cases with 527 services, with cerai gugat (wife-initiated divorce lawsuits) forming the largest share. Second, the ‘open-access’ practice generates governance challenges—mis-targeting, uneven public awareness of PERMA-based services, and budgeting pressures that do not match workload. The article argues that these tensions reflect a core dilemma of pluralist legal governance: how a rights-based promise of equal access to justice is operationalized through discretionary street-level interpretations inside religious courts. It concludes by proposing a two-tier model that preserves universal legal information services while prioritizing intensive drafting support and prodeo (fee-exemption litigation) facilitation for verified economically disadvantaged users.
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