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.