Officials' must obey court's summon, Chief Justice says

JAKARTA (JP): Chief Justice R. Soerjono reminded government officials yesterday that their presence was mandatory when they are summoned by the state administrative court in connection with any legal suit filed against them.

"The law authorizes the State Administrative Court to force government officials to appear in court as scheduled," Soerjono told reporters after installing several new heads of High State Administrative Court.

He said the head of the State Administrative Court would repeat his summons if the official fails to show up. If he does not respond to the third call, the court may lodge a complaint with the official's superior, he added.

Requiring government officials to appear in the state administrative court has long been debated here.

The Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN Jakarta) had to issue three letters of summons in 1992 to make the then Jakarta's Deputy Governor Basofi Sudirman appear at the trial. Basofi had to testify in a dispute over a plot of land on Jl. Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta.

He was asked to appear because he was the one who violated a court ruling which put the land on status quo until a final decision was reached.

In the latest case, Minister of Information Harmoko failed to present his defense on time as required by the State Administrative Court here which handled a law suit filed against him for banning Tempo magazine in June for dubious reasons.

A court session was originally to hear Harmoko's defense early this month, but his lawyer R. Wiyono said that his client needed more time to respond to the lawsuit filed by Goenawan Mohamad, the proprietor of the closed weekly.

Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman, who attended yesterday's inauguration ceremony, said that a government official does not have to appear in court.

"The official's presence could be delegated to any authorized person," he said. "The official's presence is needed only for crucial matters, which require him to testify in court in person," he added.

Quality

Soerjono said that the recent raise in salaries must encourage corps of judges, including those of the State Administrative Court, to improve their performance and services.

"Judges should improve the quality of their decisions," he said. He added that judges' decisions should be free from external intervention.

The three judges of high court inaugurated yesterday were Charis Soebijanto as the new head of the Jakarta High State Administrative Court, Marcus Lande as the new head of the Medan High State Administrative Court in North Sumatra, and Gustaf Armenia Pasaribu as the new head of the Ujungpandang High State Administrative Court in South Sulawesi.

Charis, who was former head of the Medan High State Administrative Court, replaces R. Soebandono who is entering the period of retirement, while Marcus, former head of the Ujungpandang High State Administrative Court replaces Charis' position and Gustaf, former deputy head of the Medan High State Administrative Court, is to replace Marcus.(imn)