Yusril: Law on Supreme Court should be revised

Yusril: Law on Supreme Court should be revised

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice and Human Rights Affairs
Yusril Ihza Mahendra suggested on Wednesday that the Law on
Supreme Court should be revised to prevent future debate on the
appointment of the Chief Justice.

"The Law on Supreme Court No. 14/1985 Law must be revised. The
Ministry of Justice has completed the draft of the revision, but
we have yet to submit it to the House, pending the appointment of
the new chief justice," the minister said.

Yusril said the opinion of the new chief justice must be heard
in connection with the revision.

Controversy has arisen over the article that stipulates the
chief justice is to be selected by the President from among the
justices nominated by the House of Representatives.

The House has nominated Muladi, a former Minister of Justice,
and Bagir Manan, a former director general of law and order, for
the vacant chief justice seat.

However, President Abdurrahman Wahid has refused to pick one
of them, for two reasons -- because Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri did not approve the nomination and because the
nominees have roots in the New Order regime.

There are two interpretations of the article. Some say that
the president may reject the nominees, while others, including
Yusril, believe that the president must choose one of them.

Yusril said that the law would be revised to ensure that in
the future there will not be any ambiguity regarding the
appointment of the chief justice.

Yusril said that the ministry had proposed that the House be
authorized to choose the chief justice candidates and the
president must then endorse one of the nominees.

"It is just like when the president endorses legislators who
had been chosen by the people through a general election. The
president just needs to endorse the result," he said.

According to Yusril, the president should not bear any
political responsibility for endorsing the chief justice
nomination.

Yusril also said that the ministry had completed the revision
of several other laws, including the General Judiciary Law, State
Administrative Judiciary Law, the Amendment of Criminal Code
Procedures, Law on Prosecutors and Law on Correctional
Institutions.

He added that the Supreme Court had also formed a team,
chaired by Bagir Manan, to discuss the draft of the revision of
Law No. 14/1985 on the Supreme Court. (01)