Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Agus Triyono – An outspoken legislator has taken up the cause of district court judges across the country who have threatened to go on strike unless they receive a pay raise that is four years overdue.

Bambang Soesatyo, a member of House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, said on Monday that the welfare of the judges needed to be addressed for the good of the wider judicial system.

"If the government is truly committed to upholding the rule of law, then the judges' grievances must be addressed," he said. "What they've managed to reveal is a fundamental weakness in the law enforcement fabric of this country."

Bambang, a member of the Golkar Party, said legislators would take the judges' demands to the Supreme Court. "No matter how high a public official's rank may be, if their standard of living is below the average, there will naturally be a push for improvement," he said.

He claimed this was forcing many judges to moonlight in other jobs and take bribes.

Bambang was speaking as judges' representatives met with Supreme Court officials in Jakarta to make their case for a pay raise.

Jauhari, a judge from the Depok District Court, said after the discussion that the judges were pushing for their first pay hike in four years and an increase in benefits for the first time in 11 years.

"The situation now is critical, particularly when you consider the threat of a strike," he said. "The problem is that for a long time there has been this significant disconnect between the image of judges and the reality, and we're now at breaking point."

On Sunday, Sunoto, a judge at the Aceh Tamiang District Court and an organizer of the pay hike protest movement, said judges at the Constitutional Court had much better working conditions than those at courts administered under the Supreme Court.

He said the judges had already tried to seek the help of the president, even sending text messages to the president's complaint line, but to no avail.

"We have been struggling to secure raises and improve our conditions for one and a half years now," Sunoto said. "We are tired of this, and up to this point the government has been unwilling to respond to our entreaties."