ABSTRACT
Since 1998, Indonesia's court system has undergone reforms to overcome its reputation for being corrupt, inefficient and incompetent. A series of studies over last decade has produced positive reviews of the Religious (Islamic) Courts, praising their ability to provide access to justice for vulnerable groups, such as women, the poor and children. There are, however, still critics of the performance of the Religious Courts, especially when it comes to more complex and sensitive issues such as post-divorce rights, child custody and permission for polygamous marriage. This chapter argues that one of the causes of this is the weak judicial education provided by the state. It investigates problems in the judicial education system offered to Islamic judges by the Supreme Court's Centre for Judicial Training, to understand in detail exactly how poor education contributes to poor judicial decision-making in family law cases involving Muslim women. It argues that the current system of judicial education for Religious Court judges in Indonesia fails to address gender in its curricula, teaching and learning process, resources and teacher composition.
