Recruitment of judges must be impartial
Recruitment of judges must be impartial
Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Noted legal observer Bambang Widjojanto warned the House of
Representatives, Supreme Court and the President on Friday to set
aside political interests in the recruitment of judges for the
Constitutional Court.
"It's too dangerous if they gamble on this issue because it
would risk the country's future," Bambang said during a media
conference.
The House endorsed the bill on the constitutional court on
Wednesday, paving the way for establishment of the court.
Under the bill, which will automatically become law 30 days
after its endorsement, the court's nine judges would be appointed
by the president, House and Supreme Court.
Bambang said independent and capable judges were mandatory for
the court as it had the power to settle political disputes,
impeach the president or vice president and review the country's
legislation to ensure that it did not conflict with the
Constitution.
He suggested that the three institutions must not install
unsuitable candidates simply in order to beat the Aug. 17
deadline.
"If they have only one capable candidate, then let it be, as
it will not violate the Constitution. However, they should
continue the selection afterward, but properly," Bambang
suggested.
Public participation and a test of suitability, he said, were
mandatory to ensure that independent and credible judges were
appointed.
"Public participation will support the transparency of the
recruitment," he said, asking the three institutions to allow
the public to propose candidates.
National Consortium for Law Reform (KRHN) chairman Firmansyah
Arifin demanded the transparent recruitment of judges.
He said the president, the House, and the Supreme Court should
not turn the Constitutional Court into a political instrument for
the interests of any particular institution.
"Do not turn the Constitutional Court into a political
instrument or place of power sharing as this will affect the
credibility of the new court," Firmansyah said.
However, Chief Justice Bagir Manan brushed aside possible
public participation in the recruitment process, saying that he
had the prerogative to choose candidates from his institutions.
"I have the privilege to appoint candidates from the Supreme
Court," he said at his office on Friday, saying the selection
would be carried out by his office.
When asked whether the Supreme Court would carry out a test of
suitability on candidates, he replied, "What for? I know the
capabilities of my judges."
Bagir said candidates from the Supreme Court were from high
courts.
"They must also be good," he said, without elaborating.
On the second day of the selection process, a House team
assigned to choose Constitutional Court judges had not received
any names nominated by factions for judge positions in the new
court.
Selection team member M. Akil Mochtar, of the Golkar Party,
said on Friday that his team was awaiting nominations from the
House faction until Saturday.
"We have not received any nominations. We will wait until
Saturday," Akil told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
The House team is scheduled to announce publicly the names of
candidates on Saturday afternoon and looks forward to receiving
public comment on them.