Reformasi in Bali

Real life, business, and law in Bali is something else entirely.

Acquiring and using false official documents is difficult in most countries. Penalties for False Documentation, Fraud, and Perjury are severe. But Made Jati apparently had no difficulty obtaining numerous false documents or using them in multiple suspected frauds. And despite six different reports to the police in Bali, she has faced no penalties.

In fact, the Uluwatu case is not really unusual for Bali, and collusion by police, public officials and lawyers to defraud foreign investors is common.

Indonesia has made great progress under President Yudhoyono in reforming the notoriously corrupt legal system, Reformasi in Indonesian.

But Bali with its easy flow of money from dewy-eyed foreign investors, many of whom cannot speak even basic Indonesian, is largely beyond control of the authorities in Jakarta. The U.S. government has experienced similar problems trying to stamp out the narcotics trade; when large sums of money are involved it is almost impossible to stop people from targeting it.

To understand why, we need to consider corruption and the existence of the Law Mafias.

The Battle Against Corruption in Indonesia

Observers consider corruption one of the major problems confronting Indonesia. It is an obstacle to development keeping millions of Indonesians in poverty. Graft drains tremendous amounts from public finances yearly.

President Yudhoyono's administration has set up commissions to tackle corruption on every level. Dozens of non-governmental anti-corruption organizations also work in cooperation with the government.

But some of the most difficult problems come from the "Law Mafias" - Mafia Hukum in Indonesian - which flourish at least partly because of Indonesian's unique regionalism.

In theory the national government in Jakarta unites the hundreds of distinct peoples and languages in the nation, but in fact most Indonesians also identify strongly with their own ethnic group.

"We versus them" is particularly useful when it is also profitable - as in enjoying special rights over income in their own province.

Law Mafias sponsor and protect illegal activities by issuing false documents and certificates, sidetracking investigations, and covering up with dishonest judicial decisions. They make money from percentages of the proceeds, so the more illegal activity, the more money they make.

Kalimantan has logging, Riau has fishing, and Bali has an endless flow of tourist investments.

Attempts by anti-corruption commissions to break up regional Law Mafias can be met with tremendous resistance because they can be complicated by issues of local ethnic solidarity.

So Whose Idea?

Law Mafias aren't run by Godfathers. They are informal and shifting groups who know how to help people involved in the local scams get things done.

Reality is that Made Jati has an education through 5th grade. She is ambitious, but she did not obtain knowledge of marriage laws by reading law books. The legal arguments are contrary to law, but sophisticated.

In 1985, the idea that an Indonesian wife could cancel a foreign marriage by failing to register in Indonesia would have been a popular theory among certain groups.

There were a few mistakes along the way. Her family arranged the Hindu marriage ceremony in 1994 before they obtained a what they later claimed to be a prenuptial agreement; they apparently had to go back and improvise a solution with a variety of false documents and then obtain a new marriage certificate from Denpasar in 1996.

But when Made Jati was ready for the divorce in 2005, she found solid support from members of the courts, the police, the public prosecutors and even my original lawyers.

The idea that Made Jati controls the legal institutions and law offices and newspapers in Bali is ridiculous. But it appears likely that Made Jati is a client of a Bali Law Mafia.