Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Erwin Sihombing – Anti-corruption activists and human rights groups are threatening to sue President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over his recent decision to appoint former Minister of Justice and Human Rights Patrialis Akbar as the Constitutional Court's newest judge.
The Civil Society Coalition for Saving the Constitutional Court, which includes groups such as the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and Indonesian Corruption Watch, has said that it will file legal action against the president over his latest nomination.
"We are planning to sue the president regarding his choice for the Constitutional Court judge," Emerson Yuntho, an official with Indonesia Corruption Watch, said on Monday. "The coalition views the appointment as a violation of the 1945 Constitution as well as the Law on the Constitutional Court."
Following two previous attempts to secure a place on the bench of the Constitutional Court, Patrialis was inaugurated on Monday and will replace outgoing deputy chief Ahmad Sodiki, who recently completed his five-year term with the court.
YLBHI advocacy director Bahrain urged the Constitutional Court to issue a strict interpretation of Article 19 of the Law on the Constitutional Court, which states that the appointment of Constitutional Court judges must be done transparently, because many parties tend to elucidate the clause differently.
He said that Patrialis's installation as judge was not done transparently. "The president should have arranged a selection committee to install a judge with high integrity," Bahrain said.
Furthermore, the coalition considers the appointment a consolation prize for a former minister who was rightfully sacked during a previous presidential cabinet reshuffle.
Haris Azhar, a Kontras representative, said that Patrialis's National Mandate Party (PAN) should have offered up other names for the position given his previous failures as the Minister of Justice and Human Rights in 2011.
"The PAN should have had better judgment. I am sure they have other decent candidates – – not only people with law degrees, but candidates with a good vision and track record," he said.
Patrialis, responding to the opposition to his candidacy, said that the president wouldn't have appointed him as a judge if he was truly unqualified. "I was chosen by the government through comprehensive deliberation," he said.
When asked about the controversy, he said that it is normal. "I used to be in similar legal aid foundations in the past. Don't worry about it, the world is not smooth," he said. He also urged the coalition not to politicize the affairs of the Constitutional Court.
Patrialis tried in the past to join the ranks of the Constitutional Court. When his term as lawmaker with the PAN ended in 2009, he made an attempt to replace judge Jimly Asshiddiqie, but he failed the fit-and-proper test conducted by the House of Representatives.
Earlier this year, he eyed the vacancy left by former court chief Mahfud MD. Competing with four law professors for the position, Patrialis announced on the day of the fit-and-proper test that he had withdrawn his candidacy.
Beside Patrialis, there two other judges were inaugurated during the same ceremony: Maria Farida Indrati and Akil Mochtar.