NGOs demand House to suspend judiciary deliberations

Muninggar Sri Saraswati The Jakarta Post Jakarta

A coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) called on the House of Representatives and the government on Friday to suspend the deliberation of three judiciary bills due to the limited time allocated for the purpose.

"What can you expect from laws deliberated in such a rush?" coalition member Rifqi Sjarief Assegaf asked after meeting with Chief Justice Bagir Manan.

The House has allocated 11 working days from Jan. 28 to Feb. 10 to deliberate three bills on amendments to Law No. 2/1986 on public court, to Law No. 5/1986 on state administrative court, and to Law No. 5/1991 on the Attorney General's Office.

The three bills are part of five total laws on the judiciary. The two others -- the law on the Supreme Court and the law on judicial power -- were passed last year.

Rifqi said the fact that both the House and the government decided to deliberate the bills in such a short time showed that they had no vision on how to develop an independent judiciary.

"Each bill includes several contradictory articles," he said.

Rifqi cited an article that appears in the bills on public court and on state administrative court stipulating that judges must be civil servants and not state officials, while an article in the bill on the Attorney General's Office says prosecutors must be state officials.

"This is nonsense, as it minimizes the merit of judges and raises that of prosecutors without a strong logical basis," he said.

He also pointed to an article in the bill on the Attorney General's Office that only recognizes prosecutors as being eligible for the post of Attorney General.

Fellow activist Binziad Khadafy raised concerns over the lack of a law on judicial commission, which is to monitor the performance of the Supreme Court.

"The existing law on the Supreme Court has enabled the court to separate from the ministry of justice, which means the court could be independent. However, the Supreme Court might abuse its power if it is not monitored by a judicial commission," he said.

The House and the government have yet to deliberate the bill on judicial commission.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is currently making an effort to implement judicial reform, which has met with internal opposition, including judges and court clerks.

Chief Justice Bagir Manan said the Supreme Court could not reform the country's judiciary without cooperation from other parties, including law makers at the House.

While the country's judiciary is notorious for its "court mafia" -- the local name for backroom dealings and bribery that occur at all levels of the judicial system -- the public has tended to blame only the judiciary, without scrutinizing other institutions that have a bearing on its performance and function.