Legislators must choose judge with integrity, say experts

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Supreme Court justice candidates must not only have the ability to resolve legal cases efficiently, but must also be equipped with the capacity to bring about sweeping reforms in the country's highest judiciary body, legal analyst Rizqi S. Assegaff says.

To meet that end, Rizqi says, the House of Representatives (DPR) must be much more serious in carrying out its candidate selection for the highest court in the land.

"Selected justices should have the capacity and integrity to reform the Supreme Court," said Rizqi from the Institute for Research and Advocacy for Independent Courts (LeIP).

He was commenting in regard to the scheduled interviews by House Commission II for 63 candidates to be Supreme Court justices from Feb. 17 to Feb. 24.

Although there are about 16,000 unsolved cases at the Supreme Court, the ability of candidates to handle cases quickly should not be the only criteria for appointment, he said.

According to Rizqi, there were at least three criteria that should be used by legislators to select the candidates. A Supreme Court justice, he said, must possess personal integrity, quality and vision.

Legislator Patrialis Akbar announced on Tuesday that 63 candidates had met the administrative requirements and that the public was invited to submit their opinions on the candidates to legislators.

"We invite the people to give input concerning the backgrounds of the candidates," Patrialis said.

Of the 63 candidates, 31 of them are career judges and the remainder are non-career justices.

There was strong criticism against the House for its failure to carry out a fair and transparent selection process in the selection of members of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) last year.

After a series of evaluations of the candidates, legislators voted for their preferred candidates. This had raised speculation that legislators' preference was based on "personal likes and dislikes".

The lack of a fair selection process had led to the disqualification of Todung Mulya Lubis and Hendardi, both of whom are highly respected human rights champions, but apparently not the right fit for Indonesia's human rights body.

Rizqi Assegaff said he hoped the legislators would not have another unfair selection process.

He suggested that the legislators collect as much background information concerning the candidates' track records so that the lawmakers could determine each candidates' integrity or lack thereof.

Rizqi added that the legislators should also verify the experience of each candidate.

Regarding the method of selection, Rizqi suggested that the legislators should be transparent with regard to why a certain preference was given to anyone.

"Which legislators opt for whom should be known by the public so that the legislators have a sense of responsibility for their selection," he said.

Deputy chairman of Commission II, Hamdan Zoelva, meanwhile called on the public to help the legislators by providing information about the candidates.

The people can submit comments by facsimile: (021) 5715522, 5715524 or internet: www.dpr-ri-komisi-2.or.id.