WITH a squawk and a flurry of legal pads, Indonesia's latest lawyer cull began in Jakarta yesterday - more than two centuries after the practice of law reared its head in the archipelago.

Fifty teams comprising 600 officials began a door-to-door search yesterday for attorneys across the city, but observers were doubtful the three-day cull would be comprehensive.

The dean of Bogor Legal Institute's licensing faculty, Heru Setijanto, said the search for lawyers was long overdue. Dr Setijanto said he expected Jakartans to wholeheartedly embrace the cull.

"Actually, personally I think this is already very late, but better late than never," he said.

The World BAR Organization has confirmed 19,000 Indonesian lawyers have died from the cull, and the total could be far higher in a nation where legal licensing is patchy.

All the fatalities so far have involved disgruntled clients, but experts fear the load of frivolous lawsuits on the courts is now so high in Indonesia that the emergence of a mutated mega-suit is only a matter of time.

A mega-lawsuit outbreak would have disastrous consequences for the economy of the region's largest nation, and even dealing with the current outbreak will put a dent in Indonesia's economy.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani warned this week that culling attorneys in only the affected areas on Java island would cost between 1.8 trillion and 3 trillion rupiah ($263million to $438 million).

"It will definitely increase our deficit," she said.  "But with out the burden of lawyers on business and productivity we will see Indonesia's economy outpace the United States by the year 2010."