Court to set up commission to supervise judiciary

Court to set up commission to supervise judiciary

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Supreme Court will appoint five or six justices to a planned
supervisory commission being set up to monitor and prevent
judicial misconduct.

Justice Benjamin Mangkoedilaga said on Tuesday the commission
would operate under the auspices of the Supreme Court's deputy
chief justice of supervisory affairs, Marianna Sutadi.

"The team will be obliged to work transparently. We are
confident that the mechanisms will work," he told The Jakarta
Post.

Justice Marianna has so far refused to comment on the
supervisory commission and its responsibilities.

Justice Toton Suprapto said that armed with a new code of
conduct, the commission would oversee all judges and justices and
investigate all public reports of judicial misconduct.

"The commission will recommend to the chief justice what kinds
of punishment should be imposed against troubled judges and
justices," he said.

The code of conduct threatens penalties ranging from
administrative sanctions and temporary suspension of duty, to
rank downgrades and dismissal.

But Toton quickly added that the dismissal of a judge or
justice had to based on the recommendation of a disciplinary
council, which would be called to hear accusations of serious
professional misconduct.

"The main task of the disciplinary council, comprising senior
judges and justices, will be to handle cases of serious
professional misconduct and to give a recommendation as to what
punishment should be imposed against a judge or justice," he
said.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan said the code of
conduct was formed to help mend the judiciary's badly tarnished
image, and to increase public confidence in the judicial system.

According to him, the supervisory commission would comprise
selected justices and state officials from the Ministry of
Justice and Human Rights.

"The commission is a governmental organization so it is closed
to public involvement.

"The justices on the commission will be additional staff
members for the Supreme Court's deputy chief of supervisory
affairs, Mariana Sutadi, whose tasks include formulating the
mechanisms to monitor judges," he said on Wednesday.

Bagir added that the public could participate in this process
by filing complaints with the commission or by going through the
Judicial Commission, as stipulated in the third amendment to the
Constitution.

The new code of conduct comes as all judges and court clerks
are placed under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, which
will begin on Jan. 1, 2003.

The integrity of Indonesian judges has come under increased
scrutiny with a string of questionable rulings and accusations of
judicial corruption.

The judiciary has been under fire for a number of
controversial verdicts involving former National Logistics Agency
(Bulog) chief Beddu Amang, former president Soeharto's youngest
son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, central bank Governor Sjahril
Sabirin and House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung.

Sjahril, convicted for his involvement in the Bank Bali scam,
was acquitted on appeal.

And the judiciary was widely condemned when the Central
Jakarta Commercial Court declared PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife
Indonesia bankrupt on June 13, in a decision that strained
relations between Canada and Indonesia.

The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights has launched an
investigation into the possibility of bribery in that case, but
the results of the investigation have yet to be announced.

However, none of the judges involved in these controversial
decisions has ever been brought to court. Critics believe esprit
de corps is behind this apparent impunity.

Last month, the Jakarta High Court dismissed a case against
three Supreme Court justices who were accused of taking bribes
from a middleman, Endin Wahyudin, who later brought the case to
the now-defunct Joint Team to Eradicate Corruption.

However, a lower court gave Endin probation for slandering the
three justices.

Bagir said there was nothing controversial about this case,
although whatever evidence there was that might have supported
the bribery charges was never heard in court.

"Endin didn't file an appeal, so it has become fact that the
(bribery) report against the justices was slander," he remarked.