Soerjono urged to pull bid on Adi's dismissal<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): More protests were directed against Chief
\nJustice Soerjono for recently requesting President Soeharto to
\ndismiss Justice Adi Andojo Soetjipto for tarnishing the Supreme
\nCourt's name.<\/p>\n
A number of legal and student activists demanded yesterday
\nthat Soerjono retract his request, as it would only damage the
\nimage of Indonesia's judicial system further. There are no
\ngrounds on which Adi -- who blew the whistle on collusion and
\ncorruption at the Court -- could be dismissed, they said.<\/p>\n
Munir of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute said that Law No.
\n14\/1985, which Soerjono cited as the basis for his request,
\ncannot be used to dismiss the senior judge.<\/p>\n
\"The law doesn't rule that a senior judge can be dismissed
\njust because he alleged that collusion took place in the Supreme
\nCourt,\" Munir said in a petition sent to Soerjono yesterday, a
\ncopy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
\"The foundation demands that the chief justice withdraw his
\nproposal to the President,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The government acknowledged last week that President Soeharto
\nhad received Chief Justice Soerjono's request that Adi be
\ndischarged.<\/p>\n
The request marked the culmination of a public row between
\nSoerjono and Adi over allegations of collusion in the Supreme
\nCourt.<\/p>\n
Adi had been going public with his statements that collusion
\npractices were rife, while Soerjono said there was no evidence to
\nsupport the claim. The chief justice later ordered Justice Adi to
\ndesist, saying that his talking to the press was undermining the
\nintegrity of the Court itself.<\/p>\n
Criticism against Soerjono also came yesterday from the
\nMuhammadiyah Moslem organization. Hajriyanto T. Thohari of its
\nyouth wing said Soerjono had no legal basis on which to call for
\nAdi's dismissal.<\/p>\n
He also chided Supreme Court spokesman Toton Suprapto for his
\nstatement that it was \"the manner\" in which Adi disclosed the
\nalleged collusion the Court found most unacceptable.<\/p>\n
Separately, Adi said that the manner in which Soerjono drew up
\nthe proposal to dismiss him was unacceptable.<\/p>\n
\"Had Chief Justice Soerjono honestly recognized that the
\nalleged collusion and bribery did take place, I would have
\nremained silent and not talked to the press,\" Adi said.<\/p>\n
Adi blamed Soerjono for not taking on the responsibility of
\nexplaining the collusion allegation himself, but delegating it to
\nTonton instead.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, five students representing five youth
\norganizations called on Soerjono to reconsider his proposal. The
\norganizations were the Association of Indonesian Moslem Students,
\nthe Indonesian Islamic Students Movement, the student association
\nPijar, the Forum of Indonesian Law Studies, and the Jakarta
\nInstitute for Islamic Studies.<\/p>\n
Fauzi Syarif Rangkuti, who led the delegation meeting Toton,
\nsaid that dismissing Adi would not solve the problem of collusion
\nin the Supreme Court and the Indonesian judicial system in
\ngeneral.<\/p>\n
Instead, the move would only increase public distrust in the
\nSupreme Court, he said.<\/p>\n
Toton told the students to wait for President Soeharto's
\ndecision on the matter. (imn\/16)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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