As many as 20 teams of law students from 20 universities participated in National Moot Court Competition from January 15th-18th 2016, held by Faculty of Law, Universitas Gadjah Mada.
Baisy Elfitri, committee chairman, said that this competition is regularly held by Asian Law Student’s Association’s (ALSA) Indonesian chapter. “This competition served as an opportunity for law students to practice Law Court,” Baisy said when contacted on Monday (18/1).
The grand champion was selected based on accumulation scores by the judges from Yogyakarta District Court, High Court, law firm, Faculty of Law UGM, and Yogyakarta Police Office. There were a number ofaward categories, such as panel of judges, prosecutor, lawyers, and law clerks.
Hamdi, SH., M. Hum., Chief Justice of Supreme Court, responded to this competition well. According to the man, this competition is an opportunity for students to prepare themselves for the real practice.
Even though it was only a competition, Hamdi thought that students need to be more accurate to define the defendant’s role and announce the case of lawsuit. “On the real practice, there are many cases that are only based on defendant’s confession. None will admit what they have committed a crime unless they are chicken thief or laundry thief. Corrupt people won’t confess, they might say they forget or they don’t know,” he said.
“In every court, the central role of defendant is not that easy. An incident needs to be proved by judges, prosecutors, and lawyers,” he said.
Vice-Dean of Research and Community Service Faculty of Law UGM, Dr. Sulastriyono, S.H., M.Si., said that this competition gave a chance for law students to practice their knowledge. “But their skill will be tested by the judges,” he concluded.