'Let Supreme Court handle its own crisis'

'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)