Anita Rachman, Indonesia – The seemingly renewed national commitment to law enforcement that last week saw the appointment of an antigraft czar and an attorney general will continue this week as the House of Representatives assess candidates for the Judicial Commission.

The 14 candidates for the seven seats on the commission, which serves as a watchdog for the country's courts, will take a written exam today.

Legal experts, however, are focused not so much on the selection process as on the House's promise to grant the commission greater powers.

Tjatur Sapto Edy, deputy chairman of House Commission III, which oversees legal affairs and will vet the candidates, had said his commission would prioritize the deliberation of an amendment to the 2004 Judicial Commission Law.

He said this would include giving the Judicial Commission the authority to dismiss unethical judges. The commission is now limited to giving recommendations to the Supreme Court.

"We'll discuss the amendment in January," Tjatur told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday. "We want to give them more authority so they can properly monitor judges. If they have more authority, their supervision will be more effective."

If passed, the amendment would allow the commission "not only to recommend rulings on judges, but issue them," he said.

Asep Rahmat Fajar, from the Indonesian Legal Roundtable, welcomed the move as long overdue. "We've been waiting for this since 2006, for the House to give more authority to the Judicial Commission," he told the Globe.

"It's very important in relation to the commission's agenda to eradicate the judicial mafia," he added, referring to the system of institutional corruption spanning a variety of government and law-enforcement institutions.

He said changes to the 2004 law had been expected since a review of it by the Constitutional Court in 2006, but the House had since put off deliberating an amendment. "They must now deliberate it as soon as possible," Asep said.

Among the powers he said he wanted the Judicial Commission to receive was the authority to force judges to come to Jakarta for questioning. "At the moment, there are many judges who fail to show up after being summoned, simply because the commission doesn't have the power to force them to come," he said.

Eva Kusuma Sundari and Syarifuddin Sudding, both members of House Commission III, promised that the Judicial Commission would be given more powers, but said legislators would focus on the amendment once the selection process was over.