Govt readies anticorruption court

JAKARTA: The government has begun preparations for the establishment of the long-awaited special court to hear corruption cases, as mandated by Law No. 30, 2002 on Corruption Eradication Commission (KPTKP).

Supreme Court Judge Paulus E. Lotulung told reporters on Wednesday that the government had issued an instruction on the establishment of a steering committee to develop a blue-print for the court's establishment on March 19, 2004.

"We have set a team to coordinate its establishment, which is led by Mardjono Reksodiputro," said Paulus, who heads the steering committee and is a professor with the University of Indonesia school of law.

Supreme Court Chief Bagir Manan expected the court to be established by the end of the year.

Bagir said the Supreme Court would face difficulties in recruiting judges to try corruption cases.

"Based on our experience in recruiting ad hoc judges for the human rights tribunal, it will not be as easy as we think," he said.

Law No. 30/2002 stipulates that a corruption case shall be heard by a panel of five judges, three of whom are non-career judges.

"If we recruit the judges from universities, they (universities) would lack lecturers. On the other hand, I don't think lawyers are willing to fill the posts as the salary is not as good as their current salary as lawyers," Bagir added. --JP