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)