Watchdog says eight justice candidates unfit

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A judicial watchdog called on the House of Representatives on Friday to drop the nomination of eight candidates for Supreme Court justices for failing to uphold transparency.

The Judicial Watch Coalition said the eight candidates for Supreme Court justices had failed to submit wealth reports to the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission.

All public servants with structural positions are obliged by the Anticorruption Law to submit wealth reports to the commission as part of the effort to curb rampant corruption in the country.

One representative of the coalition, Binziad Kadafi, said the defiant candidates were Djawadin Saragih, Imron Anwari, M. Arsyad Gaffar, M. Saleh Puteh, Mahfudz Arhasy, Mastra Liba, Neken Tarigan and Widyatmo Sastro Hardjono.

"All of them were public servants or retired officials who completed their service after 2001. They failed to submit wealth reports prior to the selection," Kadafi said, adding that three of the candidates were active or retired military officers.

He added that if the House continued with the current selection process, it would thwart efforts to reform the highly corrupt Supreme Court.

The coalition also deplored the fact that most of the candidates had been implicated in corruption.

"How can we expect to have a credible Supreme Court if most of the total 63 candidates for the office are believed to have been involved in corruption?" Dian Rositawati, another representative from the coalition, remarked.

She added that the credibility of the candidates was of the utmost importance compared to other qualifications.

She said the coalition would summon House Commission II on legal and home affairs to demand the disqualification of the eight candidates.

Law No.14/1985 stipulates that candidates for Supreme Court justices must be first screened by the House before being sworn in by the president.

Currently, 26 of the 51 seats for Supreme Court justices are vacant.

The coalition, consisting of the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) and the Indonesian Transparency Community (MTI), also deplored the fact that screening of the candidates was conducted by the House behind closed doors.

"By screening the candidates surreptitiously, the House has excluded the public from judging the candidates," Dian said.

She also regretted that the House allocated too little time to the public to scrutinize all the candidates.

"With so limited time provided, the legislature does not have much time to learn about what the people have to say about the candidates," Dina said, adding that the time allocated was only four days.