Scholars lament pressure on judges

Scholars lament pressure on judges

SEMARANG (JP): Indonesian judges find it hard to remain
impartial because too many parties intervene in cases, a law
professor at the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University said
yesterday.

Sudikno Mertokusumo said judges often faced dilemmas because
they were squeezed by "internal and external pressures".

"This is not something than can be easily confirmed. But it is
undoubtedly felt that our judges are often pressured into making
certain decisions through bribery or physical intimidation by
people outside the courts," Sudikno told a seminar on judicial
power at the Diponegoro University here yesterday.

Judges are pressured from within the system by
"recommendations" or telephone calls from members of the Supreme
Court demanding they make certain rulings, he said.

"Pressures like these have made our judges incapable of
objectivity when making decisions. Many of our judges have lost
their integrity," he said.

The seminar also featured legal experts Muladi, Satjipto
Rahardjo and Soehardjo S.S. from Diponegoro University, and
Yusril Ihza Mahendra from the University of Indonesia.

Yusril supported Sudikno's opinion, but attributed part of the
problem to poor court management. He said district and provincial
judges were supervised by three different institutions.

The Ministry of Justice supervises judges handling general and
civil crimes, the Ministry of Religious Affairs supervises judges
of religious affairs while the Ministry of Defense and Security
supervises military tribunal judges.

"Judges are part of the bureaucracy and must remain loyal to
the government. And then they have to deal with disputes between
the government and the public. How can they be independent?" he
said.

In terms of independence, Yusril said, senior judges at the
Supreme Court were the same with their juniors.

"Senior judges are judges of lower courts who have been
promoted. They cannot relinquish their status as civil servants,
although they have become senior government officials with non-
active membership at the Corps of Civil Servants," he said.

Sharing Yusril's view, Satjipto suggested reforms in the
supervision of judges. (har/imn)