Jakarta – Public Relations: The Covid-19 pandemic that has spread throughout the world, including in Indonesia, has not reduced the activities of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia, both in national and international forums. Due to information technology improvement, all activities of the Chief Justice can run smoothly and as expected.

Among kinds of activities both in national and international forums attended by the Chief Justice Dr. H. M. Syarifuddin, S.H., M.H. is The China Forum on International Legal Cooperation. Necessarily, the Chief Justice off to Beijing, China on November 13, 2020, to speak in that event. But, due to the pandemic, Syarifuddin attends the event that was also attended by Chiefs Justice from all over the world virtually, as well as delivered remarks virtually.

“While the pandemic prevents us from doing conventional way of dialogue, I believe everyone attending agrees that pandemic has taught us ways to do a lot of things in a more effective, efficient, and healthy manner without compromising the meaning and significance of the activities, especially by using the advancements in technology,” Syarifuddin says in his remarks at Command Centre of the Supreme Court. At that time, the Chief Justice accompanied by Chief of Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court I Gusti Agung Sumanatha, S.H., M.H.

According to The China Forum on International Legal Cooperation, Syarifuddin states that the Supreme Court has regularly followed the event, “for almost a decade, judicial cooperation between ASEAN and China, and Indonesia, in particular, has been continuously developed and strengthened. Every year, the number of Indonesian Judges visiting China to attend an exchange program and dialogue agenda has been constantly increased. The leaders from both judiciaries have been regularly visiting each other to further foster cooperation and understanding. I believe the same case happens in relationships between China and other ASEAN judiciaries,” says the former Vice Chief Justice for Judicial Matters.

At the same time, Syarifuddin also speaks about trade. He emphasizes that the spirit of trade cannot coexist with war.  Therefore, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having strong and healthy trade in the region.

“It is our responsibility to ensure that the trade we are fostering is the trade that is fair, which many define as a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency, and mutual respect,” Syarifuddin says.

Besides, Syarifuddin says that continuous growth in trade requires effective and efficient dispute resolution as a critical aspect to guarantee certainty.  Even though, based on his understanding and years of experience as a judge, the former Vice Judge of Bandung District Court states that it is always more efficient to avoid disputes rather than to solve them. Prevention of dispute will require multi-jurisdiction efforts to build a common ground for understanding each other. “I can see that forums and exchanges like the one that is promoted by China Law Society can serve as one of the keys and strategic agendas to move us one step forward to the achievement of such objectives,” Syarifuddin hopes.

The event was also attended by Chief Justice of Federal Rusia, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Chief Justice of Nepal, Deputy Chief of House of Representatives of Republic Belarus, Minister of Trade of China, and many more (azh/RS//photo:SF) (translated by Azh/reviewed by RS)