Indonesias Small Claims Court Procedure

In other jurisdictions, a small claims court system may be well established and
be utilized effectively for simple and inexpensive cases claim-wise. However in
Indonesia, the small claims court system was only recently established under
Supreme Court Regulation No. 2 of 2015 regarding Procedures for the Resolution
of Small Claims Lawsuits (Regulation).
The first case to be tried based on this new small claims court procedure was
first heard earlier this year at the Jakarta Selatan District Court, which was filed
by Smart Consulting, a corporate consulting firm, against PT Jasa Tambang
Nusantara. In this case, the plaintiff is demanding that its client, the defendant,
to pay for its consulting services fees of IDR 96 million. A decision is yet to be
rendered as of the date of this article. 1
Criteria
Indonesias small claims courts may only hear civil disputes with the following
criteria:2
1. Be a breach of contract or tort dispute;
2. Damages of IDR 200 million at most;
3. Must not fall under the jurisdiction of special courts, such as commercial
courts, fisheries courts, or industrial relations courts;
4. Does not involve land rights;
5. Does not involve more than 1 plaintiff and 1 defendant;
6. Address of the defendant must be known;
7. Both the plaintiff and defendant must reside in the same court jurisdiction;
and
8. Both the plaintiff and defendant must be present during all of the court
proceedings (cannot be absent and represented by an attorney).
Procedure
Compared to the normal civil procedural law, the small claims court procedure is
relatively simple and is subject to a strict time frame. Despite as such, however,
it should be noted that the normal civil procedural law will still apply to matters
that are not stipulated under the Regulation (for example, evidence
examinations).3
Registration
A case can be registered to be tried by a small claims court by filing a lawsuit
and filing out a claim form provided by the registrar of the district court that has
jurisdiction of both the plaintiffs and defendants domicile (note that cases in

1 Hukumonline, Pertama Kali, Gugatan Sederhana Diperiksa PN Jakarta

Selatan, January 23, 2016
2 Regulation, Arts. 2, 3, and 4
3 Regulation, Art. 32

which the plaintiff and defendant are under the jurisdiction of different courts
cannot be processed in a small claims court). 4
The claim form will contain details on the identities of the plaintiff and defendant,
fact summary of the case, and the settlement being demanded by the plaintiff
with a nominal value of no more than IDR 200 million. When filing the lawsuit
and claim form, the plaintiff is also required to submit the document evidences of
the case that must be validated, typically by the issuing authority (for example,
for licenses and government approvals) or by a public notary (usually for
agreements).5
Upon receiving the lawsuit and claim form, the registrar will review whether or
not the case fulfils the criteria to be heard by the district courts small claims
court (as stated above). If it does not fulfil a certain criterion, for example if the
claim demanded by the plaintiff is more than IDR 200 million, the lawsuit and
claim form will be rejected and returned to the plaintiff. Otherwise, the registrar
will register the case and charge the court fees to the plaintiff (which can be
waived for poverty-stricken persons). 6
Within 2 business days of the case being registered, the head of the district court
will appoint the single and presiding judge for the case, as well as a court clerk. 7
Preliminary Hearing
On the first proceeding, a preliminary hearing, the presiding judge will determine
whether or not the case can be settled by the small claims court procedure. 8
If the presiding judge is of the opinion that the small claims court procedure
cannot or is not sufficient to resolve the case, the presiding judge will dismiss the
case, remove the cases registration, and order the registrar to refund the
remaining court fee to the plaintiff. Such dismissal cannot be appealed. 9
Otherwise, the presiding judge will set the date of the first trial and summon both
the plaintiff and defendant.10
Trial
On the first trial proceeding of the case, if the plaintiff does not appear before
the court without a valid reason, the case will be dismissed by the presiding
4 Regulation, Arts. 6 (1) and (2), and 4 (3)
5 Regulation, Arts. 6 (3) and (4), and 3 (1)
6 Regulation, Arts. 7, and 8
7 Regulation, Arts. 9, and 10
8 Regulation, Art. 11 (2)
9 Regulation, Art. 11 (3) and (4)
10 Regulation, Art. 12

judge. On the other hand, if the defendant is absent on the first trial proceeding
of the case, the presiding judge will issue a second summons to the defendant. If
the defendant fails to adhere to this second summons, the presiding judge will
examine and adjudicate the case in the defendants absence (verstek).11
If both the plaintiff and defendant is present, before the cases trial commences,
the presiding judge will attempt to mediate the disputing parties in order to
produce an amicable settlement (note that this mediation process is not subject
to Supreme Court Regulation No. 1 of 2008 regarding Mediation Procedure in
Courts). If a settlement is reached between the disputing parties, the presiding
judge will draw up a deed of settlement that is binding to the plaintiff and
defendant, which cannot be appealed. 12
If the mediation process fails, the trial will continue with the plaintiff bringing and
reading the lawsuit before the presiding judge and the defendants response to
the plaintiffs lawsuit.13
Subsequent proceedings will examine the evidences brought before the court by
the plaintiff and defendant respectively (only if the defendant is present and
denies the claims submitted by the plaintiff) until a decision is rendered by the
presiding judge. The presiding judge must render a decision within 25 business
days of the first trial.14
Under the small claims court procedure, neither the plaintiff nor defendant may
submit an injunction (provisi), counterclaim (rekonvensi), jurisdiction challenge
motion (eksepksi), reply (replik), rejoinder (duplik), or conclusion (kesimpulan).15
Challenge
If any of the disputing parties is unsatisfied with the decision, a challenge to the
decision may be submitted within 7 business days of being rendered. 16
This challenge is submitted to the registrar of the same district court by signing a
deed of challenge statement (akta pernyataan keberatan) before the court clerk
and filling out the provided application form. In order to further support the
challenge, the challenge applicant may submit a notice of challenge (memori
keberatan) which outlines the main points of the challenge. 17

11 Regulation, Art. 13
12 Regulation, Art. 15
13 Regulation, Art. 16
14 Regulation, Arts. 18, and 5 (3)
15 Regulation, Art. 17
16 Regulation, Arts. 21 (1), and 22 (1)
17 Regulation, Arts. 21 (2), 22 (2), and 23 (1)

The court will notify the other party regarding the challenge and notice of
challenge within 3 business days of receiving them, to which the other party may
respond with a counter notice of challenge (kontra memori keberatan) within 3
business days of receiving the said notification. 18
In filling out the challenge application or drafting the notice of challenge or
counter notice of challenge, it is important to note that during the challenges
trial proceedings, the panel of judges will not examine any matter outside of the
challenge application, notice of challenge, and counter notice of challenge. 19
The head of the district court will appoint a panel of 3 judges on the next
business day after the challenge application was filed. This panel of judges must
render a decision to the challenge within 7 business days of being appointed.
There is no further legal action, such as appeal, cassation and case review, that
may be taken against the decision to the challenge. In other words, the decision
to the challenge is final and binding on the disputing parties. 20
Pros and Cons
There is no obligation for cases to be heard by a small claims court that fulfil the
necessary criteria (as explained above). In other words, the plaintiff may choose
the normal civil court procedure over being tried by a small claims court.
A main consideration for choosing the normal civil court procedure may be the
further legal action, including appeal, cassation and case review, available in
case the decision rendered is unsatisfactory. There may be other considerations
based on the differences between the normal civil court procedure and small
claims court procedure as set out in the following table.
Aspect

Normal Civil Court

Proceedings

Small Claims Court

Types of Disputes

Can hear all types of civil

disputes

Can only hear cases

fulfilling
certain
criteria (as mentioned
above)

Time Limit

None (a normal case can

take up to 4 months,
excluding any appeal,
cassation
or
case
review)

Decision
must
be
rendered within 25
business days of the
first hearing

Procedure

Typically
complicated
and sluggish with both
parties having the right

Under a tight schedule

and will only hear the
response
of
the

18 Regulation, Art. 24
19 Regulation, Art. 26
20 Regulation, Arts. 25, 27, and 30

to request for more time

for certain proceedings,
or submit an injunction,
counterclaim, jurisdiction
challenge motion, reply,
rejoinder, and so forth

defendant
to
plaintiffs lawsuit

Single

Panel of 3 judges

Court Fees

More
expensive
compared
to
small
claims court

More affordable

Attendance

Plaintiff and defendant

may be absent and be
represented
by
an
attorney

Plaintiff and defendant

must
attend
every
proceeding (with or
without an attorney)

Further Legal Action

In order of sequence:
appeal, cassation and
case review

Challenge
submitted
to the same district
court, which is final
and
binding,
and
cannot be appealed

Judge

the