JakartaPost-Oct 7
The Museum of Indonesian World Records (MURI) has recognized Andi Kasri “Akas” Unru, 31, and Muhammad Andika Panji, 33, as the first deaf lawyers to join the country’s judiciary after they swore their oath in June alongside their peers at the Jakarta High Court in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta, dressed in black robes, white jabots and black peci (skullcaps). “There are many issues we must advocate for because many deaf people face the law, whether as victims, perpetrators or witnesses. Yet legal assistance for them remains inadequate,” Panji told The Jakarta Post in late September. “As lawyers, our hope is to reduce the stigma against deaf people and [show] that we are capable of defending our own rights,” Andi added. Andi and Panji enrolled in the law school at Jakarta’s Esa Unggul University in 2017 after they received scholarships from Deaf Legal Advocacy Worldwide (D-LAW), an organization of deaf lawyers based in Maryland, the United States. Their opportunity came just a year after the passage of the 2016 Law on Persons with Disabilities and six years after Indonesia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). On campus, the two became inseparable allies in their struggle to keep up in class. Since no interpreters were provided, they relied on their notes and speech to text software, though the tool often failed to transcribe lectures accurately. They later urged D-LAW to provide interpreters, but many struggled with legal terminology. After graduation, they had to complete the mandatory special course for legal professionals, pass the bar examination and complete a two-year apprenticeship before they could enter formal practice. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2025/10/07/breaking-the-silence-deaf-lawyers-make-judicial-history-in-indonesia.html.
