Armando Siahaan, Jakarta – The government and the House of Representatives on Thursday agreed to the creation of an ad hoc tribunal to deal with judges who break the law, which would effectively boost the power of the Judicial Commission.
A revision of the 2004 Judicial Commission Law is currently being deliberated. One of the main aims is to increase the commission's authority in handling cases involving judges. This authority is presently limited to writing a recommendation to the Supreme Court, which then has the final say on whether to dismiss judges implicated in unethical behavior.
Tjatur Sapto Edy of the National Mandate Party (PAN) said the House draft proposes a mechanism in which the Judicial Commission and the Supreme Court establish an ad hoc tribunal that has the authority to rule on judges' transgressions, which would then be presented to the House for approval before the president makes the final call.
"The Judicial Commission would have more authority than right now, because it can now do nothing but give recommendations," said Tjatur, the deputy chairman of the legal commission in the House.
"We want to give the [Judicial Commission members] more authority so they can properly monitor judges' behavior," he said. "If they have more authority, their supervision will be more effective."
Justice Minister Patrialis Akbar said this mechanism would make sure the Judicial Commission would become an equal partner in the battle against errant judges. "So far, the Judicial Commission's recommendations didn't always have the desired effect. But now, it will be included," he said.
Patrialis added that the exact composition of the ad hoc tribunal would be discussed during the next stage of deliberations.
Patrialis said that the impetus to strengthen the commission's power goes back to a worrying trend in the past that many of the Judicial Commission's recommendations were ignored by the Supreme Court.
"There were many recommendations that showed some judges committed violations, but they ended up freed by the Supreme Court. Not only that, some of those judges even received promotions," Patrialis said.
The new body is designed to make sure that the commission's recommendations will indeed be used to help the government create a corps of entirely respectable judges.
However, the proposition may fall short of meeting the expectations of a number of lawmakers who wanted the Judicial Commission to have absolute authority in dismissing unethical judges.
But Tjatur said that such a proposal could be raised again when the House-led working committee deliberates the bill.
Asep Rahmat Fajar, from the Indonesian Legal Roundtable, said the Judicial Commission should be given the authority to force judges to travel 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. Moreover, he urged the government and the House to stay committed to passing the bill.
"They've already promised to pass the law years ago. But up until now, it's merely promises," he said. "This law is really crucial for the country to be able to eradicate the judicial mafia."