Ikahi accused of snubbing public

Ikahi accused of snubbing public

JAKARTA (JP): Lawyers expressed their dismay with the
recommendations that came out of last week's Indonesian Judges
Association (Ikahi)'s 13th national congress, which they said
ignored the public demand for judicial reform.

"It is disappointing. Instead of opening the door for public
involvement in the recruitment of judges, IKAHI recommended a
recruitment system completely devoid of public involvement.

"Now there is no hope for the people to see an improved
judiciary," lawyer Frans Hendra Winarta of the Indonesian
Institute for Independent Judiciary told The Jakarta Post on
Tuesday afternoon.

Frans and Todung Mulya Lubis of Judicial Watch Indonesia also
criticized the congress for giving weight to the matter of
judges' welfare while failing to address such issues as the
establishment of a judicial court and the eradication of
corruption in the judiciary.

The association ended its congress last Friday by issuing
several recommendations, including the revision of Supreme Court
Law No. 14/1985, particularly the articles dealing with
justices.

It suggested Article 7, Sentence 1(g) be revised to allow a
high court judge to be appointed a Supreme Court justice
regardless of the length of his or her tenure. The article
currently states that a judge must serve five years on the high
court before becoming eligible for appointment to the Supreme
Court.

They also recommended that Article 8, Sentence 3 be revised to
give the justices the power to elect a chief and deputy chief
justice through a plenary session. The article now says the
justices can only nominate the chief and deputy chief justice,
and the nominees must then be screened by the House of
Representatives and approved by the president.

Another recommendation from the congress was that career
judges be given priority in appointments to the Supreme Court,
with noncareer justices being considered for the court only in
exceptional cases.

The judges opposed the use of a fit-and-proper test in the
appointment of Supreme Court justices who are career judges. They
said only noncareer judges should be obliged to go through a
screening process.

House of Representative's legislator Ferry Mursyidan Baldan
said the fit-and-proper test gave candidates the opportunity to
make public what they wished to accomplish on the Supreme Court,
and was not meant to pass judgment on the capabilities of the
candidates.

"Ikahi does not have to feel threatened by our screening
process. Their recommendations are irrelevant anyway since we
have the authority," Ferry, the deputy chairman of House
Commission II for home and legal affairs, told the Post by phone
from Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.

Lubis said the association's objections to the screening
process reflected the fact they were afraid their profession was
being taken over by noncareer judges.

"It is hoped that in the future there will be an external
judicial commission to run the screening process and to monitor
the justices to ensure we have the best guardians as our last
bastion of the judicial system," he told the Post.

"Such a judicial commission would also help avoid horse-
trading among the parties in the House during the selection of
justices," Lubis added.

During the congress, it was suggested that judges be made
state officials and their salaries multiplied in order to fight
corruption in the judiciary.

"Theoretically it could work, but only if there was already a
binding integrity charter among the judges, as well as judicial
watchdogs," Lubis said.

He also suggested that judges be the first to report their
personal wealth to the National Commission on State Officials
Assets, and be required to file a new report annually.

Sixty-one participants proposed to the congress that the
monthly salary of district court judges be increased from between
Rp 3 million and Rp 4 million to Rp 15 million, and that the
salary of high court judges be increased from Rp 5 million to Rp
25 million. They also proposed Supreme Court justice be paid Rp
40 million from the current Rp 12 million they receive.(bby)