Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The draft of an independent bill has suggested all corruption cases in Indonesia should go to a specialized court run by judges who have been carefully selected by a team of academics and members of the public.

The draft bill also suggests courts specializing in corruption cases be created across the country. To-date there is just one graft court in Jakarta to manage all the country's corruption cases.

Lawmakers were given three years from December 2006 to enact a law on the corruption court when the Constitutional Court ruled the existing system was against the 1945 Constitution.

The court's verdict said there could not be two types of courts – the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the public court system – trying cases of corruption.

If no law has been enacted by December 2009, the existing system will be disbanded. The KPK said it is currently drafting a law, but no version has been completed to-date.

The non-government organization Transparency International says Indonesia is perceived to be one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Legal activist Bambang Widjojanto is a member of independent team responsible for the new draft bill. The team comprises activists and analysts and said Tuesday the current graft court has "rather excessive powers".

"(Our draft says) the court will also process graft-related cases by Indonesians abroad and those by foreigners that incur state losses," Bambang said. "Furthermore, the court would also try lawsuits filed by a third-party implicated in the alleged graft."

Bambang said the court would have the power to issue a warrant to search, confiscate, freeze and intercept communication.

The draft suggests the Judicial Commission supervise both career and ad-hoc judges and that a reasonable reduction of sentences be introduced for defendants who plead guilty or offer to pay back whatever they have stolen from the state.

The draft bill would order judges for graft court be selected via a series of tests and questions managed by a team including members of the public.

The final selection process for career judges would remain in the hands of the Supreme Court Chief Justice. Ad-hoc judges would be selected the President with a recommendation from the Supreme Court Chief Justice.

J.E. Sahetapy, law professor and head of the National Law Commission, endorsed the need to have a graft court, but said it should not be permanent.

"The final objective is to have a clean judiciary. The system needs a gradual cleansing," Sahetapy said. "I reckon there's no specific graft court abroad because all crimes go to the public court. We can have the sternest graft law or graft court, but that will mean little unless the country has an honest judicial system."

At present, there is one graft court based at the Central Jakarta District Court to handle cases involving state officials or cases involving loses greater than Rp 1 billion (US$106,000).

The independent draft bill would see the establishment of five graft courts in Jakarta, Medan, Makassar, Balikpapan and Surabaya. Each court would handle cases relative to its territory, which would be decided geographically.

I Made Hendra, an ad-hoc judge at the graft court, said he did not agree with the creation of a specialized court for corruption at the Supreme Court level.

"The Supreme Court is the highest level of the judicial system and the last resort," Hendra said. "But I agree, the judges for graft courts should be made up of career and ad-hoc judges."