Better salary key to boosting judges' integrity and quality

Better salary key to boosting judges' integrity and quality

JAKARTA (JP): A better salary and complete organizational
separation from the bureaucracy are key to improving the
integrity and quality of judges in Indonesia, head of the Bandung
District Court Djoko Soetono said.

Djoko, 57, argued that at present the status of judges was
caught between the roles of a legal officer and a civil servant.

Speaking in Bandung, West Java, at a discussion on The
Significance of the Independence of Law Institutions in Legal
Reform, Djoko pointed out that based on Law No. 2/1986, judges
have the same status as civil servants.

"So how can you expect judges to be free or exempted from the
intrusion of other powers?"

As a result, the public places little trust on the decision of
judges, particularly when hearing a case which has political
nuances, he said.

Furthermore, if society expects judges to perform a competent
role in such challenging situation, judges must also be provided
with the appropriate salary, he said.

According to Djoko, Law No. 14/1970 already stipulates that
the salary of judges would be structured and arranged separately
(from the rest of the bureaucracy), however it has yet to be
carried out.

"Up to now the salary of judges is still the same as regular
civil servants," he said as quoted by Antara. "In fact teachers
who are civil servants can earn more because they can moonlight
by teaching in other schools."

Djoko further lamented the fact that despite the importance of
the law, the overall budget for the Ministry of Justice was still
equivalent to the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

He called for a greater public understanding of judges who
were often swamped with cases.

People must not generalize skeptical perceptions about judges
being involved in a "court mafia", he said.

"Please remember there are only about 4,000 judges in this
country scattered across 256 district courts," he said. "Look at
the judges serving in very remote and isolated areas, how can
they be involved in collusive practices when they handle mostly
small radio theft cases."

Regardless of what people may often think, a large number of
judges, especially those serving outside of Java, do not even
have a motorcycle, let alone a car, he said. (mds)