Ad hoc judges made public soon

JAKARTA: President Megawati Soekarnoputri will this week sign a presidential decree on the appointment of judges for an ad hoc tribunal to try human rights abuse cases.

Deputy Cabinet Secretary Erman Rajagukguk said on Wednesday that the draft of the presidential decree had already been submitted to the President last week.

"Maybe the President will sign it in a day or two because the tribunal will have to start in January," Erman told The Jakarta Post.

The tribunal will try human rights abuse cases that occurred in East Timor in 1999 and the Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, tragedy of 1984, in which more than a dozen people were killed.

He said that the presidential decree on the appointment of the ad hoc judges was one of the top priorities of the cabinet secretariat.

Nominations for ad hoc judges were submitted by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Supreme Court.--JP