Chief justice row takes new turn

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)