Punish judges who fail to declare their assets: NGO<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A non-governmental organization involved in the
\neffort to create a just, fair, and independent judicial process
\nhas urged the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) to
\ntake resolute action against judges who fail to declare assets.<\/p>\n
A. Muhammad Asrun, the coordinator of Judicial Watch, told a
\npress conference on Wednesday that the failure to return the
\nforms supplied by the KPKPN meant that the judges themselves, who
\nwere supposed to make up the vanguard in the fight to promote the
\nsupremacy of law, were in fact violating the law.<\/p>\n
"Our data shows that out of 2,571 declarations distributed to
\njudges nationwide by the KPKPN in June, 2001, only about 100 have
\nbeen returned to the commission," Asrun said.<\/p>\n
"The delay in returning the declarations clearly shows that
\nthe judges have no desire to uphold the law and promote good
\ngovernance. They could also be charged with committing a crime as
\nthey are trying to conceal their wealth from the public," he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Asrun further urged the Supreme Court, along with the
\ngovernment, to instruct the judges to hasten the return of the
\ndeclarations or face sanctions should they ignore the
\ninstructions.<\/p>\n
"The sanctions, for example, could be imposed in the form of a
\nreevaluation of the promotions of uncooperative judges. We are
\nsetting a deadline of the end of this month for the Supreme Court
\nto issue the instruction, he said, adding that should the Supreme
\nCourt ignore the warning, they would go to the People's
\nConsultative Assembly's working committee so that the latter
\ncould examine the Supreme Court's performance.<\/p>\n
Based on Judicial Watch data, the approximately 100 court
\nofficials who had returned the declarations had assets ranging in
\nvalue from Rp 179,555 (US$19.95) to Rp 4 billion.<\/p>\n
The richest court official was Sukhyar Nana Sujana, a clerk of
\nthe Karawang District Court in West Java, who declared assets
\nworth Rp 4.964 billion, while the poorest was Stevanus Tasane, a
\nclerk of the Sumedang District Court, also in West Java.<\/p>\n
The second richest was Mucshin, a Supreme Court justice, who
\ndeclared assets worth Rp 3.19 billion, while Supreme Court Chief
\nJustice Bagir Manan reported assets worth Rp 678.6 million.<\/p>\n
Among the other richest persons associated with the court
\nsystem were Justices Marianna Sutadi Nasution and Kahardiman, and
\nformer justice minister Muladi, all of whom declared assets
\nvalued at between Rp 2.69 billion and Rp 2.88 billion.<\/p>\n
The late Justice Syafiuddin Kartasasmita and Justice Benjamin
\nMankoedilaga declared assets of Rp 1.110 billion and Rp 2.089
\nbillion respectively.<\/p>\n
The declarations, however, remained subject to verification as
\nthe KPKPN had yet to conduct any investigations to find out
\nwhether they were accurate, Asrun said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Judicial Watch's advocacy division head Margarito
\nKamis said the reluctance on the part of the judges to report
\ntheir assets displayed their arrogance.<\/p>\n
"The judges continue to maintain a dictatorial regime such as
\nexisted under the New Order, in which good connections and
\nobscurity were everything," he said. (tso)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/punish-judges-who-fail-to-declare-their-assets-ngo-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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