Chief Justice Bagir Manan aiming for judicial transparency<\/p>\n
By Peter Kerr and Tertiani Simanjuntak<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's new Supreme Court chief justice
\nfinds that the hills and stairs around his home in Bandung, where
\nhe is a professor at Padjajaran University's School of Law, offer
\nthe perfect exercise and escape from work.<\/p>\n
At 59, Bagir Manan will need a clear head and plenty of
\nstamina to tackle one of the nation's biggest challenges:
\nreforming the judiciary and eliminating corrupt judges, justices
\nand officials.<\/p>\n
In a wide-ranging interview with The Jakarta Post he agreed
\nthat more than three-quarters of Indonesia's judges and justices
\nmay be corrupt, and that greater political will was needed to
\nfight corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN).<\/p>\n
But he defended the Supreme Court's ability to reform itself
\nand said he was considering a raft of changes aimed at increasing
\nthe skills and integrity of judges, improving and streamlining
\ncase management, and increasing public access to decisions.<\/p>\n
Other changes, such as limiting the number of cases that reach
\nthe Supreme Court (Indonesia's highest judicial body has a
\nbacklog of some 12,000 cases), would require action by the
\ngovernment or House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
Bagir said he wanted to \"start now\" with the reforms but
\nrefused to be drawn on a timetable, particularly for removing
\ncorrupt judges, justices and officials.<\/p>\n
Asked whether he agreed that up to 85 percent of Indonesia's
\njudiciary was corrupt, as estimated by former deputy chief
\njustice Adi Andojo Soetjipto, Bagir said:<\/p>\n
\"It's possible, 85 percent or 75 percent.<\/p>\n
\"When we talk about allegedly corrupt judges it's not only in
\nthe Supreme Court but also in the Court of Appeal, for instance,
\nand not only in the general court, in the ordinary court, but
\nalso in the administrative court and so on.<\/p>\n
\"So it's a big, big problem.<\/p>\n
\"We don't have any choice other than to work hard to find out
\nthe scum.<\/p>\n
\"But I don't want to promise you that, for example, within
\nthis month there are two judges, or three judges, or five judges
\n(brought to justice).<\/p>\n
\"I don't want to make promises, we just have to work hard.\"<\/p>\n
Anti-corruption campaigners argue it is impossible for such a
\nflawed institution to reform itself, but Bagir said there was \"no
\nchoice\".<\/p>\n
Reform of the people's \"last terminal\" to find justice was
\nneeded now, and time spent debating how it should occur would
\njust mean more delay.<\/p>\n
Two main categories of reform were required, he said:
\nOvercoming public complaints about corrupt judges and the backlog
\nof outstanding cases, and building a proper system to recover the
\ncourt's image.<\/p>\n
In the effort to eradicate KKN, the court had already
\nestablished a supervisory body authorized to take firm action
\nagainst judges and officials.<\/p>\n
\"There are sanctions, from a warning to a dismissal, if the
\nbody finds that they have abused their profession. And, if any
\nwas proved to have taken a bribe, then we'll turn the case over
\nto the court,\" Bagir said.<\/p>\n
He was considering a range of other reforms, some that could
\nbe implemented internally but others that needed government
\nregulation.<\/p>\n
An important but difficult change, requiring political will,
\nwas to limit the number of cases coming before the Supreme Court,
\nand the government was now working on such a bill.<\/p>\n
Reasons for the current backlog included people's
\ndissatisfaction with lower-court verdicts, and the lack of a law
\nlimiting what types of cases could be brought to the highest
\ncourt.<\/p>\n
\"Such bad verdicts may be occurring because the judges don't
\nhave good legal skills or, possibly, because there was collusion
\ninvolved,\" Bagir said.<\/p>\n
\"So, again, supervising (the system) becomes the most
\nimportant aspect to avoid commercialization of a case.\"<\/p>\n
The new supervisory body might also be able to evaluate any
\njudges who had five of their verdicts challenged and then ruled
\nunlawful by the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
\"The body may issue an evaluation that the judge has bad
\ncredibility so therefore should not be promoted,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Apart from limiting the Supreme Court's caseload and
\nsupervising its conduct, the productivity of justices also had to
\nbe increased.<\/p>\n
\"And it can be achieved if the justices have good legal skills
\nand integrity for their profession, with support from hi-tech
\ndevices such as computers to enable quick access to information
\nand precedent-setting verdicts,\" Bagir said.<\/p>\n
Lack of transparency in the judicial system also needed to be
\naddressed.<\/p>\n
For example, the identities of the three judges appointed to
\neach case were currently kept secret in an effort to avoid them
\nbeing offered bribes.<\/p>\n
But this \"good purpose\" could be misused by other judges, who
\nmight offer to divulge who was handling a case in return for a
\nbribe.<\/p>\n
\"I think that to combat this bad behavior why don't we do away
\nwith secrecy of judges who handle the cases?\" Bagir said.<\/p>\n
\"For example, every two weeks or once a month we could publish
\nthe names of all the judges appointed, so everyone will know who
\nthey are.\"<\/p>\n
Similarly all court verdicts, which sometimes could be delayed
\nfor months while they were typed up or processed, should be made
\npublic in a simple form as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
This would remove the ability of judges or court officials to
\n\"negotiate\" over releasing information.<\/p>\n
\"These kind of transparencies may be small procedures but they
\nare important to prevent these kinds of illegal negotiations,\"
\nBagir said.<\/p>\n
He also wanted to eliminate abuse of the system by people
\nfiling a Supreme Court case in the hope of delaying the execution
\nof a district court verdict.<\/p>\n
He was considering delegating a panel of three justices to
\nevaluate whether requests to delay execution should be granted by
\nthe chief justice.<\/p>\n
A longer-term change might be to allow the Supreme Court to
\ncheck the facts of a case, rather than just deciding whether the
\nlaw had been properly applied.<\/p>\n
\"Sometimes I have a feeling when I handle a case (that) the
\nfacts are not right as presented,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"But we don't have any authority to correct facts, because we
\njust handle the law.<\/p>\n
\"Now, in the future it might be that we have to change the
\nsystem in some fields (so) the Supreme Court can not only check
\nthe law but also check the case, but we have to change the
\nsystem.\"<\/p>\n
Bagir said he agreed that judges' salaries should be
\nincreased, but this was no guarantee they would not take bribes.<\/p>\n
\"I cannot guarantee that a higher salary can make you a decent
\nperson, but with a sufficient salary they can do a better job and
\nbe more productive,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Judges' Association (Ikahi) recommended last
\nMarch a fivefold salary hike in which first-level judges would
\nreceive Rp 15 million a month (up from Rp 3 million to Rp 4
\nmillion), High Court judges would be paid Rp 25 million a month
\n(up from Rp 5 million), and justices would receive Rp 40 million
\na month (compared with Rp 12 million they now receive).<\/p>\n
Bagir, acknowledging Indonesia's current economic
\ndifficulties, said any salary increase would be up to the
\nlegislature.<\/p>\n
Asked whether he thought the failure to arrest Hutomo \"Tommy\"
\nMandala Putra was an embarrassment for the government, and
\nwhether there was a lack of political will to fight corruption,
\nBagir agreed government action was necessary.<\/p>\n
Tommy, the youngest son of former ruler Soeharto, has been
\nconvicted of corruption but fled after last year's verdict.
\nMeanwhile, the Supreme Court has ruled that Soeharto senior
\nshould face trial on corruption charges when judged fit enough.<\/p>\n
\"From the court's point of view (it) has finished with the
\n(Tommy) Soeharto case because there was a decision from the
\nhighest court, the Supreme Court,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"To apply this court's sentence is the government's
\nresponsibility.\"<\/p>\n
He agreed that the government and legislators were sometimes
\nputting political interests before the nation's interests.<\/p>\n
\"Yes, this is a very complicated problem when you talk about
\nKKN, because it will take a long, long time,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"For example, a lot of these things happened around 30 years
\nago, and that's a long time.<\/p>\n
\"And now we are in the period of reform. When we start with
\nreform we are fixing a big, big problem, not only in the area of
\ncorruption but also economics and politics -- it's very complex.<\/p>\n
\"(But) I do agree there should be political action to do
\nsomething quickly to combat this corruption.\"<\/p>\n
Peter Kerr is Deputy Foreign Editor of The Sydney Morning
\nHerald newspaper. He is spending four months at The Jakarta Post
\nunder a Medialink fellowship, funded by the Australia-Indonesia
\nInstitute. Tertiani Simanjuntak is a journalist with The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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