Chief justice row takes new turn

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid again dropped a bombshell here on Friday saying that "it all depends" on Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri now to pick and choose other candidates for the Supreme Court chief justice.

By doing so, Abdurrahman has ruled out the possibility of naming either Muladi or Bagir Manan, both of whom had earlier been nominated by the House of Representatives (DPR) as the candidates for the Supreme Court chief.

The House has urged Abdurrahman to choose between Muladi, who was justice minister and minister/state secretary under then president B.J. Habibie, and Bagir Manan, Muladi's former subordinate, for the Supreme Court's top post.

Abdurrahman declined, however, to choose either one of them saying the two were known "to be loyal to the New Order and to be partisan".

Speaking after Friday prayers at the state palace's Baiturrahman Mosque, Abdurrahman suggested that both Muladi and Bagir Manan had to be rejected as the President did not have the green light from Megawati.

"The DPR can name anyone (to be a candidate for the Supreme Court chief), but if Megawati disagrees (with the House over the candidates), I will never sign the decree," Abdurrahman said adding that "the duet between Gus Dur and Megawati should never be broken".

The statement came as legislators from Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) had earlier also rejected the nominations of Muladi and Bagir Manan.

The party's opposition to both names reached its peak when its legislators walked out as the House plenary session endorsed the candidacy of Muladi and Bagir on Dec. 7.

They claimed that both Muladi and Bagir Manan did not meet the requirements set by their faction, which included personal integrity and honesty.

Abdurrahman said on Friday that he had instructed Megawati to look for other candidates and added that he would prefer to have a woman to be the Supreme Court chief.

"Yesterday morning, she told me that it was very difficult to look for candidates, but I told her that whether it's difficult or not, it's her job to find them," Abdurrahman said.

He also said that he has called on the House to make a new selection, which House Speaker Akbar Tandjung has ruled out.

Hinting that the House members would finally have to take a vote on the issue, Abdurrahman said that "I believe that the DPR will finally be willing to make a new selection".

By law, the President has the right to select or reject any of the names proposed to him by the House.

Abdurrahman's statement that he would prefer to have a woman to be the Supreme Court chief was somewhat unexpected as he has repeatedly said that his personal choice for the job was former judge Benjamin Mangkoedilaga.

Benjamin was on the final list of six candidates for the Supreme Court chief but failed to pass the final selection process by House Commission II on home and legal affairs.

Two of the country's current Supreme Court judges are women. They are Valerine J.L. Kriekhoff and Edith Dumasi Tobing Nababan.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said on Friday that the President as the head of state should respect the House's decision in endorsing the candidates for Supreme Court Chief Justice.

"As the head of state, it's the President's responsibility, not the Vice President's. It's not a decision we want to listen to," said Akbar, who is also chairman of the Golkar Party, commenting on the President's statement rejecting the House's candidates.

He said the House would probably refuse to conduct a new selection of candidates as the current candidates were considered to be the best.

He said the reason given by the President that the current candidates were linked to the past government was not relevant, saying that it would be difficult to find people with no connection with the past.

"Gus Dur himself was part of the New Order since he was once a member of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). He also has close relations with Mbak Tutut," Akbar said, referring to the eldest daughter of former President Soeharto by her nickname.

He denied that the nominations, especially that of Muladi, were aimed at protecting Golkar's interests in the future.

Separately, Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW)'s chairman Teten Masduki hailed the President's rejection of the candidates, saying that Abdurrahman had listened to the people's aspirations.

"The move is also aimed at cutting the link with the New Order regime," Teten said after a breaking-of-the-fast gathering on Friday.

He said people from the New Order regime were now trying to occupy the judiciary, after they had managed to gain control of the legislature and the Attorney General's Office. (byg/jun)