Chief Justice cannot use a letter to overrule: Oetojo
Chief Justice cannot use a letter to overrule: Oetojo
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman said yesterday that the Chief Justice has no authority to overrule a final court's verdict with a memo, a practice currently on the rise.
"A letter from the Chief Justice has no legal power to nullify any decision made by the Supreme Court," Oetojo told journalists.
After opening a three-day seminar on law enforcement, he suggested that the Supreme Court minimize its involvement in court prosecutions.
"The Chief Justice should not use his "powerful" memos to intervene with a court decision. He has the authority to offer guidance only in critical cases," he said.
He cited as an exception a handful of land disputes where the court's final decision could not be executed because of natural changes in land boundaries, caused, for example, by natural disasters.
The Supreme Court has been under fire since reversing a decision last month to award an Irianese man Rp 18.6 billion (about US$8.5 million) in compensation, won in a land dispute with the local government.
Chief Justice Soerjono reportedly sent a letter to the district court of Jayapura, Irian Jaya, negating the Supreme Court's verdict in favor of plaintiff Hanoch Hebe Ohee.
The dispute over the 62-hectare plot of communal land, located about 30 kilometers from Sentani Airport, began in 1984 when Ohee sought to regain the property controlled by the Irian government.
He won the legal battle at the district court level in July 1985. After losing their appeal to the high court, the provincial government appealed to the Supreme Court in 1988 and lost again.
Oetojo said despite having the authority to give instructions and guidance to lower courts, as stipulated in article 32 of the Law No. 14/1985 on the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court should not rigidly stick to formal law principles but also consider the public's sense of justice.
"The Supreme Court can make an ideal decision if it takes both into consideration," Oetojo argued.
According to the minister, the Chief Justice should openly discuss the content of any letter he addresses to lower court officials with his deputies to make sure that it is not a "personal letter."
To minimize controversy, he said, the Chief Justice should give advice to, and not interfere with, lower court officials before they make decisions.
Oetojo said that to ensure its independence, the Supreme Court should be left alone and not supervised by another institution, as has been suggested.
"Nowhere in this world is a judiciary institution required to answer to another institution," he said.
Meanwhile, Mulyana W. Kusumah, executive director of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, said that the House of Representatives could supervise the Supreme Court by submitting its judgment to the President.
"The Chief Justice and senior judges are formally installed by the President upon the House's recommendation," he said.
Oetojo brushed aside suggestions that the Supreme Court conduct its cases of public interest openly so that citizens can follow the debates. (imn)