Wanted: Clean judges<\/p>\n
The more Indonesia strives to become a state based on law, it
\nseems, the more we find that the country is sorely lacking in
\ngood and honest judges to administer the courts. This may come
\nacross as pathetic but, unfortunately, it is a sad reality.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives, for the first time empowered to
\nscreen candidates wanting to serve as justices of the Supreme
\nCourt, this week came up with only 17 names to fill the existing
\n20 vacancies. Some of the selected 17 candidates, who were picked
\nfrom a pack of 46, apparently just made it through the \"fit-and-
\nproper test\". Insiders disclosed that even some of these
\ncandidates would have flunked the test were it not for the
\npolitical support they received from some within the House.<\/p>\n
Many of the 46 tested candidates failed on the question of
\nmoral integrity. Ironically, they were mostly career judges who
\nhave spent years administering the lower courts of law. On the
\nquestion of whether it was proper that judges accept gifts in
\nrelation to legal cases they have tried, they typically answered
\nthat the practice was acceptable as long as the gifts were given
\nafter a verdict had been passed. We suspect that most had given
\nthis answer because they have all, at some stage during their
\nlegal career, taken gifts as gratitude for favorable verdicts.<\/p>\n
This seems to be the kind of corrupt mentality that is
\nprevailing among the administrators of the courts in Indonesia.
\nIf senior judges regard taking gifts as acceptable, we hate to
\nthink what many of their juniors, whose careers depend on them,
\nare doing. It is no wonder that there is so much public contempt
\nfor the country's courts, especially the judges, which are
\nsupposed to be the last bastion of justice.<\/p>\n
We should be thankful to the House for exposing a gross flaw
\nin the legal system: that it is so damn difficult to find a good
\nand honest judge in this country. If the country's legal system
\nis in a state of complete disarray today, we know the real reason
\nwhy. It is not so much that the laws or the system is flawed. It
\nis the people who run the country's courts that need to be
\nreformed, or better still, replaced.<\/p>\n
Now that the House has submitted the 17 names to President
\nAbdurrahman Wahid, we implore the head of state to use his
\ndiscretion to thoroughly screen them before making his final
\nselection. As strong as the pressure is on the President to fill
\nthe 20 vacancies in the Supreme Court, he should not be forced to
\nselect all 17 names that have been proposed by the House,
\nespecially since some of them are also morally flawed. The
\nPresident could ask for the transcript of the \"fit-and-proper
\ntest\" conducted on the 17 candidates from the House and go over
\ntheir answers once more before making his decision.<\/p>\n
With mountains of appeal cases piling up in the Supreme Court,
\nthere is bound to be strong pressure for the President to quickly
\nfill the quota. But he would commit a grave error, and would
\nbetray the ideals of the reform movement, if he allowed people
\nwith corrupt mentalities to serve in the highest court.<\/p>\n
Legal reform is just as important as political reform as
\nIndonesia strives to build a democratic civil society. Now that
\nwe know that the legal system is very corrupt, what better way of
\nstarting to reform the system than by replacing the top people
\nwho administer the country's highest court before working
\ndownward to reform the entire system.<\/p>\n
By the looks of it, we will have to replace all the other 31
\njustices currently serving in the Supreme Court -- who are a
\nlegacy of the old corrupt regime -- as soon as we fill the
\ncurrent 20 vacancies. The House, after its commendable work,
\nshould already be working on the next batch of candidates. The
\nfact that there aren't many good and honest judges around in this
\ncountry makes the search even more imperative and urgent.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/wanted-clean-judges-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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