House to name 80 candidates for top court

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives said on Monday it had listed about 80 candidates suitable for appointment as Supreme Court justices so as to help clear the backlog of cases before the country's highest court.

Deputy chairman of House Commission II on home and legal affairs Hamdan Zoelva said the complete list of candidates would be announced for public scrutiny before recess on Nov. 29.

"At present, we need new justices as the Supreme Court doesn't have the capacity to deal with such a large number of cases," Hamdan said.

The Supreme Court currently has only 30 justices to deal with a whopping 16,000 outstanding cases. The court hopes that the number of justices will be increased to 51.

The court proposed 72 candidates, the Attorney General's Office two, while the other nominees came from the Indonesian Advocates' Union (IKADIN) and the Indonesian Military (TNI).

The TNI nominated five officers, with Maj. Gen. Timor P. Manurung, the senior lawyer representing military officers accused of committing gross human rights violations in East Timor, heading the list.

Jakarta High Court Vice President Abner Hutagaol, Surabaya High Court President Riyanto and Medan High Court President Slamet Riyanto were among the career judges nominated for the Supreme Court posts.

Non-career candidates included Kaimuddin Salle from Hasanuddin University in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Muchsan from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and Philipus M. Hardjon from Airlangga University in Surabaya.

Mansyur Kartayasa, Deputy Attorney General for Administrative Cases, and Agus Salim Amin, secretary to the Attorney General for General Crimes are the only two prosecutors nominated by the Attorney General's Office.

"We're still finalizing all of the administrative requirements for the candidates. It's not easy," Hamdan said.

He added that the long list of Supreme Court candidates had prompted Commission II to put the Nov. 18 deadline back by at least one week.

Following public scrutiny, the House would carry out selection hearings to choose the Supreme Court justices, whose names would then be submitted to the President for approval. The selection hearings were expected to last between two and three days.

"Public scrutiny is important for obtaining a public assessment of the candidates," Hamdan said.

Meanwhile, Zein Badjeber of the United Development Party faction defended the House's right to scrutinize Supreme Court candidates as being based upon Law No. 14/1985 on the Supreme Court.

"We have to be careful about their qualifications from the beginning," he said.

The current chief justice, Bagir Manan, was selected by the House in 2000, but then President Abdurrahman Wahid resisted the decision on the grounds that Bagir was linked to the past regime. Abdurrahman instead suggested the House present him with another name.

The stand-off lasted for over six months before Abdurrahman finally signed the presidential decree appointing Bagir.