Judicial Commission's task needs to be defined: Judge

Judicial Commission's task needs to be defined: Judge

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The work of the yet-to-be-established Judicial Commission should
be clearly defined to avoid overlapping functions with the
Supreme Court, a judge said Wednesday.

Supreme Court judge Marianna Sutadi said he hoped the Judicial
Commission would not interfere with the Supreme Court's task of
assessing judges and reconsidering their rulings.

"We support the establishment of a Judicial Commission as an
external supervisor, but its function should be different to that
of the Supreme Court," she said on the sidelines of a workshop
here.

Without such a distinction, the supervisory role would not be
effective due to the long decision-making process, she said.

For example, the commission could inspect judges outside the
court or in their daily life whether or not the judges had
violated laws, she said.

The establishment of a Judicial Commission is obligatory under
the amended 1945 Constitution.

The commission would have the authority to recommend the
appointment of judges and supervise the conduct of all judges in
the country.

The establishment of the commission was approved amid concerns
the Supreme Court would monopolize judicial power when the
justice ministry relinquished its power to manage courts in 2003.

Many expect the new commission to create a better court
system.

At present, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights handles
administrative and financial matters in the courts.

Several parties have now drafted versions of the bill
regarding the commission before presenting it to the House of
Representatives.

Justice Abdul Rahman Saleh agreed with Marianna.

He said the authority of the Judicial Commission stipulated in
the 1945 Constitution was too broad, and needed to be modified.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice Bagir Manan said he expected the
Judicial Commission would help resolve various problems in the
country's courts.

"We're trying to solve problems in courts little by little.
Don't expect spontaneous results," he said.

He said he had also put in place measures to create better
mechanisms in the court.

For example, he said, he had sent letters to High Court judges
to restrict the number of cases being appealed to the Supreme
Court.

"At present 500-600 cases are handled by the Supreme Court
annually," he said.