Sanctions recommended for West Java judges

Sanctions recommended for West Java judges

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Judicial Commission recommended that the head of the West
Java High Court Nana Juwana, who led the panel of judges in the
Depok mayoral election dispute, be suspended for a year.

As for the rest of the judges on the panel -- Hadi Lelana,
Sopyan Royan, Rata Kembaren and Ginalita Silitonga, they are to
be reprimanded.

"The judges of the High Court have erred in their ways. Their
conduct was unprofessional," said commission chairman Busyro
Muqoddas reading a statement at the Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights on Thursday.

This the first case handled by the commission, set up last
month with the main mission of supervising judges in the country
and to recommend punishment for errant or poor-performing judges
to be followed up by the Supreme Court or the Constitutional
Court. The punishment may range from a warning letter to
dismissal.

The West Java High Court annulled in August the victory of Nur
Mahmudi Ismail of Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in the June 26
election for Depok mayor, and instead declared Golkar Party
candidate Badrul Kamal the winner.

The court ruled that 27,782 votes had been incorrectly given
to Nur Mahmudi, and 62,770 votes taken away from Badrul.

The verdict drew protests from the PKS and many political
analysts as it was based on evidence presented only by witnesses
believed to be Badrul's supporters. No witnesses from Nur
Mahmudi's side were summoned to testify at the hearing.

According to Busyro, the judges violated Article 106 Paragraph
4 of Law No. 32/2004 on regional administration, which stipulates
that any dispute in a regional election should be settled within
14 days.

The suit was filed on July 12, but the ruling was not handed
down until Aug. 4, thereby exceeding the time limit.

The complaint filed by Golkar also exceeded the three day
limit as the result of the election was announced on July 6, said
Busyro.

The High Court had also acted beyond its authority by
investigating vote markups or fictitious voters, which is the
responsibility of the regional election supervisory committee.

"The authority of the High Court is only in connection with
the vote counting," Busyro said as quoted by Antara.

He further said the five judges also violated the principle of
impartiality in handing down a verdict as they did not consider
evidence from the Depok Regional Election Commission (KPUD
Depok).

The judges have also based their verdict on assumption instead
of authentic evidence.

During the investigation by the Judicial Commission, Busyro
said, Nana Juwana was not cooperative as he was reluctant to
answer certain questions, saying that he was asked by the Supreme
Court not to share several things related to the ruling.

He said that it was now up to the Supreme Court whether to
implement the Judicial Commission's recommendations.

The recommendations come as Supreme Court judges are set to
decide on the judicial review of the West Java High Court ruling
filed by KPUD Depok.