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.