Do the nation justice

Do the nation justice

The row in the Supreme Court took a drastic turn last week.
Since Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono revealed on July 5 that
Chief Justice Soerjono has asked President Soeharto to dismiss
Justice Adi Andojo Soetjipto, more and more members of the
public, from prominent legal experts, students, and media
commentators, to the majority of respondents to an opinion poll,
have voiced support for Adi retaining his seat on the bench. Some
of them have even gone further: they are suggesting that it is
Soerjono who should be dismissed.

The row between the nation's two most respected serving judges
began over Justice Adi's allegation of collusion practices in the
Supreme Court. Soerjono launched an investigation but found there
was no evidence to support Adi's claim. Adi was not happy with
the way the investigation was conducted, and made his feelings
known to the public, insisting that collusion is rife. Soerjono
found Adi's behavior, exposing the Court's alleged dirty laundry,
unacceptable and petitioned to have him removed from the Supreme
Court for indiscipline.

Many media commentators meanwhile have taken the courageous
step of openly declaring their support for Adi. Admittedly, the
Court row is a relatively safe issue in which the press can,
without hesitation, declare where they stand. Compare this with
politically charged issues such as the PDI conflict, which is a
potential landmine waiting for the press to tread on. But what is
interesting in the Supreme Court row is the mounting public
support for Justice Adi over the past week.

These are a few of the most prominent supporters: Prof.
Soemantri, a constitutional law expert, reportedly warned that if
Justice Adi is dismissed, it would be a dark page in the history
of the Indonesian legal system. The Indonesian Bar Association
has pleaded to President Soeharto to listen to public opinion and
warned that dismissing Adi would further undermine people's
confidence in the Supreme Court, supposedly the last bastion of
justice. The association has also suggested that the chief
justice should resign in the wake of the embarrassing row. And
yesterday, Kompas published an opinion poll of 736 "educated
Jakartans" with answers to all questions tellingly in Adi's
favor: 76 percent of respondents said they support Adi's campaign
against collusion practices in the Court; 65 percent said they do
not accept Soerjono's claim that there is no collusion; 73
percent disagreed with the view that Adi should be dismissed.
Dozens of students have also gone on hunger strike to show their
support for Justice Adi.

While support for Justice Adi is mounting, no one has come
forward, at least publicly, to defend Soerjono. On the contrary,
the chief justice has been evasive this past week. During the
weekend, when addressing a gathering in Medan, North Sumatra, he
avoided the mob of reporters seeking his comments. His defense
has been articulated, not very successfully, by his secretary-
general Toton Soeprapto, who has acted as his spokesman. Clearly,
Soerjono has a lot of explaining to do, from the allegations of
collusion in the Court and the investigation, to his move to
dismiss Justice Adi. His silence is not helping his case.

Now that President Soeharto has returned from his medical
check up in Germany with a clean bill of health, we can expect
that Soerjono's letter will be given its due consideration, and
therefore an announcement should be imminent.

The massive public support for Adi, as we have stated above,
shows that it would not benefit anyone, nor be in the interests
of justice, to dismiss Adi Andojo. In realpolitick terms, one
would expect Soeharto to side with Soerjono and save the face of
not only the Supreme Court, but also the government. But in
realpolitick, one cannot afford to ignore mounting public opinion
either, without risking losing political support.