Watchdog says eight justice candidates unfit

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.