Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Harifin A. Tumpa, who turns 67 next month, will be the next chief of the Supreme Court, a role many had hoped would be filled by a younger leader who could instill reform.
Harifin secured the coveted chief justice post by a landslide on Thursday, winning 36 of a possible 43 votes. He replaces Bagir Manan who retired in November last year after leading the top judical institution for seven years.
With the controversial Supreme Court law requiring a chief justice to step down at 70, Harifin, the most senior justice, can hold the position only for three years.
As acting chief justice, Harifin came under public scrutiny when he collapsed while inaugurating six new justices last month. The incident appeared to justify criticism leveled against a recent amendment to the Supreme Court law that extended the required retirement age of a justice to 70 from 67. The Indonesian average life expectancy is between 65 and 67 years old.
Unperturbed by the criticism, Harifin dismissed fears that age would affect the Supreme Court's productivity and commitment to reform.
He said that the court, despite its aging justices, settled an average 1,000 cases per month. Harifin also slammed accusations that the so-called court mafia had prevailed in the Supreme Court and tended to acquit corruption suspects.
He said only 65 of 580 graft suspects were exonerated last year. "Of the number, 64 were acquitted by district courts. Therefore in fact we only acquitted one corruption suspect," Harifin said.
The Supreme Court also elected justice Ahmad Kamil, 62, as the deputy chief justice for nonjudiciary affairs; and assistant chief justice for trade civil affairs Abdul Kadir Mappong, 66, as deputy chief justice for judiciary affairs. The election results will be submitted to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for approval.
The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), a constant critic of the court, called Harifin's election "undemocratic". "The election process didn't involve the public. It failed to give us a chance to comment on the track records of the candidates," ICW's Febri Diansyah said.
The ICW has doubted the three elected leaders' commitment to combating corruption, saying they were among justices who filed a judicial review against the 2004 Law on the Judicial Commission. The Constitutional Court eventually scrapped the commission's authority to supervise the performance of judges and justices.
Harifin acquitted several suspects in three graft cases while serving as justice, Febri said.
Ahmad was elected deputy chief justice without challenge, winning 25 votes, or a 58 percent majority.
However, Abdul faced a more daunting challenge. After the first round of the elections he stood in second with 14 votes behind Paulus with 20 votes. Djoko was third with six votes. However, Paulus and Djoko forfeited the race.