Judges of new court's credibility questioned<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Law experts have questioned the credibility of judges of the
\nnewly established Constitutional Court due to the hasty selection
\nprocess and the endorsement of the Constitutional Court bill.<\/p>\n
Legal expert Todung Mulya Lubis told The Jakarta Post on
\nMonday that the credibility of the judges was questionable as the
\nscreening process was carried out in a very short time.<\/p>\n
Thus, it is inevitable that the Constitutional Court has
\nseveral judges that are affiliated with political parties, and it
\nis difficult for the public to determine their independence from
\nthose parties, he said.<\/p>\n
\"If we had enough time to carry out the screening process the
\npublic would be made aware of the judge's political stance. Then,
\nwe could force them to step down if their actions were contrary
\nto their earlier statement,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Todung claimed that political interests had placed a heavy
\nburden on the selection of the Constitutional Court judges.<\/p>\n
\"It is very difficult to maintain public confidence in the
\nConstitutional Court,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Another noted lawyer, Harun Al-Rasyid concurred with Todung.
\nHarun said that many people had quizzed him on the reputation of
\nthe judges, but he knew very few of them.<\/p>\n
\"Who are these judges? Do they have knowledge on Constitution
\nLaw and State Administrative Law?\" he asked.<\/p>\n
The Constitutional Court Law, he added, limits the ages of
\njudges to between 40 and 67. This is a violation of the amended
\n1945 Constitution as it does not stipulate such a criteria.<\/p>\n
The Constitutional Court, which has nine judges, has extensive
\npower, including reviewing the laws of the amended 1945
\nConstitution, recommending the impeachment of the president,
\ndissolving political parties, and resolving election result
\ndisputes.<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri installed the nine judges on
\nSaturday after frantic selection by the government, the House of
\nRepresentatives and the Supreme Court. Each institution had the
\nliberty to select three judges.<\/p>\n
The House named constitutional law expert Jimly Assiddiqie
\n(affiliated with Golkar party), former House legislator Achmad
\nRustandi (affiliated with the United Development Party) and
\nPeople's Consultative Assembly legislator I Dewa Gede Palguna, as
\nConstitutional Court judges.<\/p>\n
However, the House had only conducted screening processes over
\ntwo days of last week.<\/p>\n
The government named Achmad Syariffudin Natabaya of the state
\nUniversity of Sriwijaya, Mukti Fajar of the state University of
\nBrawijaya and Haryono of the regional representatives faction of
\nthe People's Consultative Assembly (affiliated with the
\nIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle). The government also
\nfailed to carry out open screening processes.<\/p>\n
The remaining three judges, selected by the Supreme Court,
\nincluded Laica Marzuki, Sudarsono and Muarar Siahaan. All are
\nHigh Court judges.<\/p>\n
Critics pointed out that the Constitution Court Law would
\nexperience problems as it was only deliberated by the House in
\nthe six weeks before its endorsement on Aug. 6. Megawati signed
\nthe court bill several days later.<\/p>",
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