Quo Vadis: Notarial Institution’s Politics of Law

The Republic of Indonesia as a state of law based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia guarantees legal certainty, order and protection for every citizen. To guarantee legal certainty, order and protection, it needs authentic written evidence regarding legal actions, agreements, determinations and legal events, which are made before or by an authorized official. Notaries, as public officials who carry out the profession in providing legal services to the public, need to get certainty, order and protection. To guarantee the foregoing, in carrying out his or her position, a notary is obliged to act trustworthy, honest, thorough, independent, impartial, and safeguard the interests of the parties involved in legal actions. In addition, a notary may not make a deed for himself or herself, his or her wife/husband, or a person who has a family relationship with the notary, either by marriage or blood relations in downward and/or upward bloodline without restrictions, also to the sideward line up to the third generation. This means that a notary is required to act independently. On the other hand, a notary is under the supervision of Ministry of Law and Human Rights of Republic of Indonesia, which is part of the executive in the government. Furthermore, notaries are required to register themselves as reporting officials, liaison and administrators in Gathering Reports and Processing Information System (GRIPS) as stated in Government Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 43 on Reporting Parties in Prevention and Eradication of Criminal Act of Money Laundering and Presidential Regulation Number 13 of 2018 on Implementation of the Principle to Recognize the Benefit Owners of Corporations for the Purpose of Prevention and Eradication of Criminal Act of Money Laundering and Criminal Act of Terrorist Funding, whereas in the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 8 of 2010 on Prevention and Eradication of Criminal Act of Money Laundering, it does not list notaries as reporting officials, let alone liaison officers and administrators. Therefore, there has been a shift in notaries’ authority from being a general official who arranges deeds related to some legal actions to a public official.