'Let Supreme Court handle its own crisis'

JAKARTA (JP): Observers are calling on the government to let the Supreme Court handle its own crisis, because any meddling would undermine the body's independence.

Three observers agreed yesterday that the government should abstain from making any decision over collusion in the Supreme Court, including on the question of Chief Justice Soerjono's request that President Soeharto dismiss Justice Adi Andojo Soetjipto. The observers are lawyer Munir, former justice minister Ismail Saleh and human rights campaigner Hendardi.

"Structurally the Supreme Court is an equal of the government," said Munir, who is the secretary of the operational division of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute.

He pointed out that using the law as grounds to dismiss Adi was inappropriate. The law rules that justices are civil servants, subject to government supervision, whereas actually they are "state officials" of the judicial branch of power, holding the same rank as the executive branch of power, Munir said.

"Justices of the Supreme Court cannot be treated as civil servants under the government's supervision," he said.

Justice Adi's campaign to bring the practices of collusion and corruption in the Supreme Court to public attention should be considered as an effort to return the Court to its original, equal position with the government and the People's Consultative Assembly, Munir said.

Ismail Saleh said the question of what to do over the alleged collusion in the Supreme Court should first be tackled by the Supreme Court itself. "The Court's independence should be maintained by leaving it to handle its own problems," he said.

Ismail also commented that it is the Court that should decide who should replace Chief Justice Soerjono, who reaches retirement age in October.

Yesterday Hendardi called on the Supreme Court to improve its image by solving its problems in a transparent manner. He suggested that the Court hold a hearing with the House of Representatives to settle the question of who will be the next Chief Justice.

The Court should also give the House of Representatives clear cut criteria before the House proposes candidates for the position. (16)