Court retains `the best of the worst' in big reshuffle

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Supreme Court shifted 64 mid- and low-level division heads from their posts on Thursday, the biggest reshuffling to occur in the country's judicial history, in an effort to boost its poor performance and repair the corrupt judiciary.

As many as nine officials of the Echelon 3 were dismissed from their positions as division heads for brokering appeal cases submitted to the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Secretary-General Gunanto Sunaryo told reporters that the reorganization was part of the court's reform agenda to repair its badly tarnished image.

"If you want to kill a snake, you have to strike at its head," he said, referring to senior administrative officials and senior legal clerks in the mid- and low-level division units.

Earlier this month, the court removed 12 of its upper-level division heads and replaced them with 12 new legal clerks.

The Supreme Court currently employs more than 1,000 officers.

Gunanto, who admitted that some of the court's senior officials "are not clean", claimed to be satisfied with the Court's move to revamp itself.

"They are the best of the worst," he commented, when asked why the court kept some of the officials.

Gunanto said that the reform agenda, which was planned last year, had won the full support of the top Supreme Court officials. The decisions of the shuffle, he said, were based on reports from the division heads' supervisors, judges, lawyers and ordinary citizens.

He added that he had frequently received letters of complaint regarding several officials who had boasted about themselves and their skills.

Gunanto, who leads the Court secretary-general division that handles court administrative matters and personnel, warned all officials against abusing their power, since the court was the final and highest institution the people came to in search of justice.

"It's we who judge your performance, not you... All this time, you have contributed to the Supreme Court's negative image. If I hear similar things (in future), I will not hesitate to dismiss you," Gunanto warned in his speech during the ceremony marking the reorganization.

He promised he would regularly monitor and evaluate the newly appointed officials.

"If your performance declines, or if you don't do your jobs correctly, or if I hear people say that you use your positions to make money, I won't hesitate to dismiss you," he added.

Legal observers have said that corruption at court not only involved the judges, but also administrative officers in the middle and lower tiers, who reportedly have the power to either accelerate or to delay a hearing.

Last year, a mid-level official at the Supreme Court was reported to the police for allegedly forging a justice's signature on a verdict.

The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) has included court administrators as part of the widespread systemic court mafia in the country.

"No matter how small the power of a court clerk, it has the potential of becoming a commodity of corruption," the ICW said in its latest report.

"Court mafia involves all actors ... from the police, court administrators, lawyers and prosecutors, to judges and prison guards," it said.

At the Supreme Court, corruption occurs particularly in those divisions that handle the flow of appeals, such as the Appeal Registration Division. Court administrators are also believed to play a role as brokers in appeal cases.