Law professor to chair Constitutional Court

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jimly Asshiddique, a professor of law at the University of Indonesia, was elected on Tuesday as chairman of the newly established Constitutional Court.

Meanwhile, Laica Marzuki, a judge at the Supreme Court, was voted deputy chairman of the Constitutional Court in an internal election that lasted more than three hours on Tuesday.

Laica was absent from the election due to illness.

Both will serve the court for a five-year term starting this year.

Eight of the nine Constitutional Court judges held their first meeting on Tuesday at the Supreme Court building in Central Jakarta, with the sole aim of electing the court's chairman and deputy chairman. The meeting was chaired by Achmad Rustandi, the oldest among the nine judges.

The election was divided into two rounds -- the first to elect a chairman and the second a deputy chairman. Each judge had one vote, which he could use to vote for himself if he so wished. All nine are men.

Jimly, who is closely associated with the Golkar Party, was elected after he garnered five of the eight votes, while Laica got five votes in the second round, allowing him to assume the deputy chairmanship in the constitutional court.

The court now has to establish internal rules and an organizational body to support its tasks.

"Those issues will be discussed in the next meeting on Sept. 2," said Jimly, emerging from the three-hour meeting on Tuesday.

Jimly said his office would send a letter to President Megawati Soekarnoputri requesting the appointment of a secretary- general for the court, which was established on Aug. 16.

The secretary-general will be in charge of the court's administrative matters.

Another immediate issue that the judges need to resolve is the holding down of two jobs. All nine judges have other jobs that they will they have to quit as stipulated in the law on the Constitutional Court signed by Megawati last week.

"It takes time to resolve these administrative matters, but we hope we can solve them as soon as possible so that we can start focusing on the core function of the Constitutional Court," said Jimly.

The Constitutional Court's tasks include settling election disputes and resolving problems arising among state institutions, dissolving political parties if necessary and verifying whether laws are in line with the Constitution.

The court was hastily set up last Saturday, after the House of Representatives and the government deliberated the constitutional court bill in just over one month, during which they disputed the required qualifications for the judges.

Before it establishes its own premises, the Constitutional Court will operate out of the Supreme Court building.