Abundant Knowledge, Thinning Integrity

From the knowledge (epistemology) side, our society can no longer be called lagging behind. Legal information is widespread, higher education is increasingly affordable. The general public understands legal procedures, even lawbreakers are often people who are "legally literate".

Corruptors, for example, are not stupid people. They understand the articles in the law, know the ins and outs of legal procedures, and are even adept at finding loopholes. The legal knowledge they have actually becomes a tool to commit violations more neatly. This is valid proof that our main problem is not ignorance, but the absence of a moral compass to use that knowledge correctly.

Empty Axiology: When the Law is No Longer Worth Respecting

This is where the heart of the problem lies.Axiology, a branch of philosophy that weighs the values of goodness and justice, has been discarded from our legal practice. Without the guidance of values, knowledge becomes wild, intelligence becomes a tool for manipulation, and the law is nothing more than a dead text that loses its meaning.

Legal philosopher Gustav Radbruch once stated that a law that is very unjust is basically not a law. In Indonesia, we witness this phenomenon every day: the law is enforced procedurally, but tramples on the public's sense of justice. Legal decisions are no longer guided by values, the most important thing is to be formally "valid", not substantially "just".

This condition explains why people are reluctant to obey: because the law itself is often not morally worthy of being obeyed. How can the public have respect when the legal system feels more often protects the elite and oppresses the little people?