Akbar backs Muladi for Supreme Court
Akbar backs Muladi for Supreme Court
JAKARTA (JP): Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung said on
Tuesday he would like former justice minister Muladi to head the
Supreme Court.
"We hope Pak Muladi will become one of the leaders of the
Supreme Court," said Akbar, who is also the speaker of the House
of Representatives.
He rejected suggestions that Muladi's nomination would reflect
badly on the party because of the close association of the former
rector of Diponegoro University with former president B.J.
Habibie.
Akbar contended that Muladi possessed the legal experience and
skills to warrant his consideration for the job.
"Talking about Habibie, I myself was a minister under
Habibie," said Akbar, who served as state secretary under Habibie
and held two ministerial terms under former president Soeharto.
Besides Muladi, he said the party would also nominate former
judge Benjamin Mankoedilaga as a justice.
The chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction in
the House, Tafiqurrahman Saleh, earlier rejected supporting
Muladi's nomination through the House.
Muladi is chief of the human rights division of the Habibie
Center and a legal consultant for military top brass who were
allegedly responsible for human rights abuses in East Timor.
A proposal for Muladi's nomination in the House is likely to
receive close scrutiny from many legislators.
Chairman of the Indonesia Unity and Nationality Faction (FKKI)
Sutradara Gintings said the House should closely examine his
track record before making a decision.
"If necessary, we can conduct a vote after his track record
has been discussed," Sutradara said.
Commission
In a related development, four non-governmental organizations
proposed the establishment of a working group to screen
candidates for supreme justices, which would serve as the
forerunner of an honorary board for the court.
The four organizations -- the National Consortium for Legal
Reform (KRHN), the Indonesian Bar Association (Ikadin), the
Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) and the
Alliance of Independence Journalists (AJI) -- underlined the
importance of establishing the working group to ensure
transparency in the recruitment of the court's members.
YLBHI's chairman Bambang Widjojanto said on Tuesday that the
working group was needed to evaluate the performance of the
candidates to avoid any connection to corruption, collusion and
nepotism.
"We need to remove corrupt judges from the candidacy list, and
it's about time the people participated in the recruitment of
their judges," Bambang said.
Justices were formerly appointed solely by the government and
they were named based on their seniority in the judiciary, not on
their capability, he said.
KRHN's chairman Irianto Subiyakto added that the working group
would focus on evaluating the candidates' experience in line with
the group's criteria for the justices.
"The candidates should be carefully selected by assessing
their legal outlook, integrity and dedication through their court
indictments, if the candidates are judges, or their published
legal analyses."
The work of the Supreme Court is under intense scrutiny. It is
particularly timely given that it has submitted a list of 36
judges for the Supreme Court.
Bambang also said that an external body to monitor and
evaluate the work of the Supreme Court was needed.
He said such a mechanism would help the Supreme Court produce
professional judges and worthy verdicts.
He said the working group would submit the proposal on the
honorary board to the House in two months in a bid to gain formal
support of its establishment. (01/jun)