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 ================================================================= - 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Source: revised judicial power bill