Judicial mediation in Indonesia: Challenges and opportunities

Judicial mediation has occurred in the Indonesian legal system since court-annexed mediation was established in 2003. To date. Judges have dominated the role of court-annexed mediators because civil procedure law mandates that they attempt to settle disputes amicably through mediation prior to litigation and their mediation services are free. Court-annexed mediation was introduced to overcome a case backlog problem in the Supreme Court and to provide a faster; cheaper and simpler approach to dispute resolution. However; since its establishment, Judicial mediation has not been popular amongst Judges and lawyers, or effective in settling civil disputes. The authors contend that Judicial mediation could be an effective approach to settling some civil disputes amicably under certain conditions. However, Judicial mediators must be provided with Incentives and undertake ongoing accredited education and training in order to have the appropriate mediation knowledge and skills within a framework of specified standards.