Ad hoc judges to start serving in bankruptcy courts
Ad hoc judges to start serving in bankruptcy courts
JAKARTA (JP): Thirteen independent ad hoc judges are expected
to start serving in Indonesia's bankruptcy courts by August,
according to a bankruptcy judge at the Jakarta Commercial Court.
Syamsudin Manan Sinaga said on Thursday some minor
technicalities were still being worked out by the bankruptcy
courts and the Supreme Court regarding the operational procedures
governing the ad hoc judges, and these details should be
completed by August.
"Parties involved in a bankruptcy case -- creditor or debtor
-- should be able to request an ad hoc judge by early August," he
said.
He said the head of the bankruptcy court or a party involved
in litigation could request an ad hoc judge be assigned to a
bankruptcy case.
Ad hoc judges will be assigned on a case-by-case basis, thus
they must be sworn in each time they are appointed to a case.
The Indonesian judicial system has a three-judge panel, with
one of the judges serving as the presiding judge. An ad hoc judge
will sit as one of the two member judges, Syamsudin said.
The presidential decree on ad hoc judges, issued in May this
year, appointed nine ad hoc judges, including six lecturers from
the University of Indonesia School of Law: Wahyono Darmabrata,
Wienarsih Imam Subekti, Retno Murniati, Frieda Husni Hasbullah,
Rosa Agustina and Agus Sardjono.
The other three are prominent lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, the
senior adviser to the minister of law and legislation, Ratnawati,
and the chairman of the Agency for National Legal Development,
H.A.S. Natabaya.
A similar presidential decree was issued in February 1999
appointing four ad hoc judges -- former judges Setiawan and
Elijana, and scholars Rudy Prasetio and C.F. Sunaryati Hartono.
These four, however, declined the offer. They said they would
not serve as ad hoc judges unless dissenting opinions were
attached to the verdict document and made public. The government
refused to meet this demand.
The normal procedure for Indonesian courts is for dissenting
opinions to be kept in a confidential court book and the process
by which the judges reach a verdict not to be disclosed, to avoid
creating further arguments and confusion.
Syamsudin said the newly issued Supreme Court decree allowing
for the disclosure of dissenting opinions on verdict documents
applied only to cases in the bankruptcy courts.
Besides the one in Jakarta, bankruptcy courts have opened in
Surabaya, Semarang, Makassar and Medan since early May.
He added that a clause on the disclosure of dissenting
opinions had also been included in the draft amendment of the
1998 Bankruptcy Law, which was scheduled to be submitted to the
House of Representatives in August.
"But while waiting for the draft amendment to be ratified by
the House, we can disclose dissenting opinions using the Supreme
Court decree as a legal basis," he said. (udi)