VP cannot interfere with Supreme Court

VP cannot interfere with Supreme Court

YOGYAKARTA (JP): An constitutional law expert has stated that
despite increasing public demands, neither the President nor the
Vice President has the authority to investigate alleged
corruption in the Supreme Court.

P.J. Suwarno, a staff lecturer at Sanata Dharma University,
said that according to the 1945 Constitution and a People's
Consultative Assembly decree, "neither the President nor the
Vice President can interfere with the Supreme Court."

The demand emerged after Deputy Chief Justice Adi Andojo
Soetjipto revealed that collusion and corruption allegedly took
place in a document fraud case. Some observers have suggested
that Adi ask the office of Vice President Try Sutrisno to launch
an investigation.

"If those demands are met, than it means that there's an
accumulation of power in the hands of the President... This could
lead to authoritarian government," Suwarno told The Jakarta Post
yesterday.

He believes that the People's Consultative Assembly,
Indonesia's supreme sovereign body that meets every five years to
produce the Broad Guidelines of State Policies and to elect the
President, should set up a committee to investigate the affair.

The Constitution rules that the Supreme Court is an
independent power with authority to adjudicate violations of laws
committed by individual citizens or the executive. The Assembly's
decree No IV/1978 stipulates that, in carrying out its duties,
the Supreme Court is independent of the government's power and
other influences.

Suwarno pointed out that under the existing system of
government, the President, the Supreme Advisory Council, the
House of Representatives, the Supreme Audit Body and the Supreme
Court, all have equal rank.

"None of the five can dissolve or question the procedures of
the others," Suwarno said.

Only the People's Consultative Assembly has supremacy over,
and the authority to hold the five offices to account, he said.

The People's Consultative Assembly comprises the 500 members
of the House of Representatives and 500 other appointees.

Suwarno regretted the fact that most Indonesians hear of the
Assembly only after the general elections and just before the
presidential election.

"After undertaking the above activities, nothing is heard of
it anymore, despite the fact that the Assembly bears the people's
sovereignty," he said.

Suwarno said that the Assembly should be more active during
its five year tenure. "The public should be able to come to the
body anytime to protest about injustices and violations committed
by the government." (har/swe)