Judges told to be ready for officials' wrath

Judges told to be ready for officials' wrath

JAKARTA (JP): Judges of the State Administrative Court must be prepared to bear the wrath of the government over their decisions, the court's chief judge said yesterday.

"If we rule against a government official's policy in favor of the people, we will be accused of lacking nationalism. We will be branded as judges who are not aware of consensus, family values and development," Administrative Court Chief Judge Benjamin Mangkoedilaga said after installing new judges of the court.

"We must be ready to be blamed and to be the subject of complaints," he added.

Benjamin installed Sri Wahyuningsih and A. Karim Manaf as judges of the Jakarta State Administrative Court. He installed Moegiyono and Hery Wibawa as secretary and junior secretary respectively.

"The judges of the State Administrative Court must be able to make right and just decisions," he said. "Call what is black 'black' and what is white 'white'," he added.

The chief judge said that State Administrative Court judges must continuously work to increase their professionalism.

He said the State Administrative Court has the authority to examine any decision or policy of any government official, from sub-district chiefs to ministers to the President himself.

Chief Judge Benjamin made headlines in May, when he ruled that Minister of Information Harmoko's decision to revoke the publishing license of the Tempo newsweekly last year had been unlawful. The action was brought by the former employees of the banned magazine. Harmoko has appealed against the decision to the Supreme Court.

Since then, the Administrative Court has been increasingly turned to by people whose complaints about unfair or unlawful treatment by government or administration officials have been ignored by the city council, the police and the House of Representatives.

People unhappy with government decisions on matters ranging from the demolition of shanties to the banning of cultural events have increasingly approached the Administrative Court as a last resort.

In August, the Jakarta State Administrative Court ruled in favor of 25 West Jakarta residents who had brought an action against Mayor Sutardjianto over the administration's demolition of their homes.

Last month, the same court ruled in favor of 15 North Jakarta residents and against Mayor Suprawito in another demolition suit.

In both cases, the court ruled that the mayor's decision to demolish the residents' homes was unlawful.

Showered with praise by the public, Chief Judge Benjamin usually responds simply, "I must do my best." (29)