House to name 80 candidates for top court
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.