House to endorse chief justice candidates
House to endorse chief justice candidates
JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives is set to formally
nominate Muladi and Bagir Manan as the two candidates for the
chief justice post at a plenary session on Wednesday.
The nominees' names will then be forwarded to President
Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), who will make the final decision on
the appointment.
Chairman of the Golkar Party faction in the House, Syamsul
Mu'arif, told The Jakarta Post on Monday that the House's
consultative body (Bamus) on Monday decided to accept the two
names selected by Commission II on home and legal affairs,
following a fit and proper test on 14 candidate chief justices
earlier last week.
"At the Bamus meeting, no faction objected to the candidates
selected by Commission II," he said.
The commission has also selected Taufik and Abdurrahman Saleh
from among seven candidates as the nominees for the post of
deputy chief justice.
Syamsul said he expected unanimous support from the 500-member
House because none of the factions had opposed the four names
during the consultative meeting.
"In case there are legislators who reject the four candidates,
which is legitimate, and propose alternative candidates, we may
resort to a vote," Syamsul said. The House also voted for
candidates for the post of State Audit Agency (BPK) chief in
1998.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)
faction has threatened to abstain, because it considered the four
candidates unsuitable for the key posts in the Supreme Court.
Syamsul said the President is expected to appoint the new
chief justice and his deputy early in January.
Asked about his faction's preference, Syamsul said it was the
President's prerogative to decide.
"Our faction has given our political support to Muladi's
candidacy, but we will accept it if the president appoints Bagir
Manan as the new chief justice," he said.
Discretion
Separately, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza
Mahendra said that President Abdurrahman Wahid "has discretional
power" to pick one from the among the two nominees, meaning that
the House's appraisal of the candidates might not matter.
"I haven't heard about the President's decision on the
prospective chief justice.
"The President's discretional power doesn't have anything to
do with the results of the House appraisal of the nominees. The
President can select Bagir Manan -- who was second to Muladi --
or just go along with the House's preference for Muladi," Yusril
told the media after the passing of a bill on Intellectual
Property Rights at the House of Representatives on Monday.
Previously, the selection of the Supreme Court chief was not
conducted through scoring and therefore it was not necessary for
the House to appraise the prospective contenders.
"The process of scoring has only just been instituted
recently. Therefore, the House has to realize that it is possible
for the President to exercise his discretional right," he said.
Yursil would not comment on whether the House insisted on
conducting a fit and proper test on the chief justice
candidates.
"It's a political matter and I don't want to get involved
there," he remarked.
The President has repeatedly shown his preference for Benjamin
Mangkoedilaga, who finished behind Bagir in last week's test.
Yusril further said that his office is preparing to undertake
a review of Law No. 14/1985 on the Supreme Court in a bid to make
significant changes to the procedures for the appointment of
chief justice.
"The current law contains lots of loopholes. One of them is
that it gives a free hand to the President to pick the chief
justice. Hopefully, such a practice could be changed," Yusril
said. (rms/edt)