House to speed up law revision to build better judiciary

House to speed up law revision to build better judiciary

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A House of Representatives (DPR) committee is speeding up its
revision of law No. 14/1970 on the judicial power, saying that
the country can no longer wait for an integrated judicial system.

After amending the law, the committee will set its sights on
reviewing four related legislations on the Supreme Court, State
Administrative Court, Public Court, and State Prosecutors.

"We hope the revision of the law will be completed by early
December. From Dec. 5, we will then discuss the revision of the
Supreme Court Law," committee chairman Zain Badjeber told The
Jakarta Post on Saturday.

The amendment of the law was proposed by 42 inter-faction
legislators in June last year.

Zain asserted that the revision would put an end to
interference of the executive body with judicial affairs.

Currently, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and the
Ministry of Defense play pivotal roles in determining which
court will hear cases involving both civilians and military
personnel.

Under the revision, the appointment of judges presiding over
joint civilian-military courts will be in the hands of the
Supreme Court, Zain said.

A committee member Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa said amendments to
the Law No. 14/1970 remained a necessity, although the government
of President B.J. Habibie had enacted the Law No. 35/1999 to
revise the 1970 law.

The 1999 law stipulates that the establishment of an
integrated judicial system under the Supreme Court should come
into effect within five years of its enactment.

Agun stressed that the establishment of an integrated judicial
system could not be delayed further.

"Legal reform, in the form of an integrated judicial system,
should be completed before elections in April next year," he told
the Post.

Meanwhile, the director of Indonesian Judiciary Watchdog
(MAPPI), Asep Rahmat Fajar, said that the draft revision ignored
the recruitment and promotion of judges.

"We know that the problems facing our judicial system lie in
the quality of human resources. If the revision does not improve
the recruitment and promotion of judges, the legal reform will
not work," Asep said.

Articles of amendments
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- Article 10 emphasizes that judicial power shall be exercised by
the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court.

- Articles 10 A says an independent Judicial Commission will be
set up to handle the selection of Supreme Court judges and
supervise the judicary.

- Article 13 says special courts, for example ad hoc human rights
courts, juvenile courts, or tax tribunals, can be set up under
the law.
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Source: revised judicial power bill