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)