Soerjono urged to pull bid on Adi's dismissal

JAKARTA (JP): More protests were directed against Chief Justice Soerjono for recently requesting President Soeharto to dismiss Justice Adi Andojo Soetjipto for tarnishing the Supreme Court's name.

A number of legal and student activists demanded yesterday that Soerjono retract his request, as it would only damage the image of Indonesia's judicial system further. There are no grounds on which Adi -- who blew the whistle on collusion and corruption at the Court -- could be dismissed, they said.

Munir of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute said that Law No. 14/1985, which Soerjono cited as the basis for his request, cannot be used to dismiss the senior judge.

"The law doesn't rule that a senior judge can be dismissed just because he alleged that collusion took place in the Supreme Court," Munir said in a petition sent to Soerjono yesterday, a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post.

"The foundation demands that the chief justice withdraw his proposal to the President," he said.

The government acknowledged last week that President Soeharto had received Chief Justice Soerjono's request that Adi be discharged.

The request marked the culmination of a public row between Soerjono and Adi over allegations of collusion in the Supreme Court.

Adi had been going public with his statements that collusion practices were rife, while Soerjono said there was no evidence to support the claim. The chief justice later ordered Justice Adi to desist, saying that his talking to the press was undermining the integrity of the Court itself.

Criticism against Soerjono also came yesterday from the Muhammadiyah Moslem organization. Hajriyanto T. Thohari of its youth wing said Soerjono had no legal basis on which to call for Adi's dismissal.

He also chided Supreme Court spokesman Toton Suprapto for his statement that it was "the manner" in which Adi disclosed the alleged collusion the Court found most unacceptable.

Separately, Adi said that the manner in which Soerjono drew up the proposal to dismiss him was unacceptable.

"Had Chief Justice Soerjono honestly recognized that the alleged collusion and bribery did take place, I would have remained silent and not talked to the press," Adi said.

Adi blamed Soerjono for not taking on the responsibility of explaining the collusion allegation himself, but delegating it to Tonton instead.

Earlier in the day, five students representing five youth organizations called on Soerjono to reconsider his proposal. The organizations were the Association of Indonesian Moslem Students, the Indonesian Islamic Students Movement, the student association Pijar, the Forum of Indonesian Law Studies, and the Jakarta Institute for Islamic Studies.

Fauzi Syarif Rangkuti, who led the delegation meeting Toton, said that dismissing Adi would not solve the problem of collusion in the Supreme Court and the Indonesian judicial system in general.

Instead, the move would only increase public distrust in the Supreme Court, he said.

Toton told the students to wait for President Soeharto's decision on the matter. (imn/16)