Judges caught between bribery and shooting

Judges caught between bribery and shooting

JAKARTA (JP): The murder of Supreme Court justice Syafiuddin
Kartasasmita on Thursday has raised the question of whether
judges should be allowed to carry guns to protect themselves.

Judges from the Tangerang District Court in Banten revealed
that they had asked the Supreme Court to issue them gun licenses
because many of the cases they handled dealt with drug
trafficking and political crimes.

"We have sent the request to the Supreme Court so that we can
protect ourselves since we are often threatened," the spokesman
for the court, Silvester Djuma, said as quoted by Antara on
Friday.

The judges said should the request be granted, they were
willing to take lesson on how to operate a gun.

But not all judges feel they need special protection.

The Supreme Court's deputy chief justice, Taufiq, said threats
were simply one of the consequences of their profession.

"I'm not afraid. It's the risk of this profession. I don't
think I need special protection," he said on Thursday.

Although the police have yet to uncover the motive for
Syafiuddin's murder, many people believe it was connected with
the cases he handled.

Retired Supreme Court justice R. Sunu Wahadi said Syafiuddin
had often been approached by people offering him bribes.

Sunu and Syafiuddin were members of the panel of justices who
sentenced former president Soeharto's son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala
Putra to 18 months in jail for corruption.

He said he last met with Syafiuddin on Tuesday, and the
deceased told him that some people had offered him Rp 20 billion
in exchange for ruling in favor of Soeharto's golfing-buddy
Mohammad "Bob" Hasan.

"He also said that Pande Lubis' people had seen him too. But
he rejected them all," Sunu said before a ceremony to pay tribute
to Syafiuddin.

Bob Hasan and Pande Lubis are involved in separate corruption
cases.

Sunu said he had received threatening phone calls following
the issuance of the ruling in Tommy's case. He said the callers
threatened to blow up his house.

Judicial Watch founder Todung Mulya Lubis said on Friday that
it was logical to assume the murder of Syafiuddin was related to
the controversial cases he had handled.

He said certain parties whose economic, business and political
interests were harmed by the government's drive to eradicate
corruption would use any possible method to intimidate and
terrorize judges, prosecutors and lawyers.

"This murder has made this country hell for those who intend
to uphold justice and the law," he said on the sidelines of a
discussion here.

Meanwhile, Judicial Watch coordinator A. Muhammad Asrun said
an investigation of five district courts in Jakarta revealed that
many of the judges were now taking care to avoid shows of wealth.

"They no longer drive their luxury cars to the office. Instead
they park the cars somewhere and take public transportation."

He disclosed that many of the judges lived beyond their
official salaries, with cases of judges sending their children
abroad for school and others owning expensive properties. (bby)