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.