Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Former prominent justices on Wednesday joined the chorus of mounting opposition against a bill that will extend the retirement age of Supreme Court judges to 70 years.

They argued the decision would lead to poorer performance by the justices and an ineffective career system at the court.

Opposition to the bill to revise the Supreme Court law was voiced at a press conference by former justices Bismar Siregar, Bustanul Arifin, Benjamin Mangkoedilaga, Laica Marzuki and Arbijoto.

Another respected former Supreme Court judge, Andi Andojo Sutjipto, who was not present at the event, was also opposed to the bill, Benjamin said.

"Please stop the discussions on justices' retirement age. It is not crucial now. The existing law stipulating justices retire at the age of 65 is already enough," Laica said.

Laica, also a former deputy of the Constitutional Court, urged the government and the House of Representatives to instead focus their energy on the revision of the law on the judicial monitoring system.

"I don't see any vital reason why the House is in a hurry to revise the Supreme Court law," he said.

Following less than three weeks of debate, the House's working committee on Sunday finished deliberations on the bill that could pave the way for current chief justice Bagir Manan to stay in office for the next three years.

Under the prevailing law, Supreme Court justices must retire at the age of 65. Bagir, who was named Supreme Court chief in 2001, is set to retire on Oct. 6, 2008.

Former Supreme Court chief Arbijoto expressed concern over the extension of the retirement age for justices, warning it could worsen their performance in resolving cases.

"Frankly, I am very sad to hear this plan. This is responsibility for the corps," he said.

"Before turning 65, I managed to finish between 10 and 15 cases a day. But once I turned 65, I could only handle seven cases at the most.

"It is a natural problem that our capability to analyze legal cases continues to diminish as we age."

However, Benjamin said should the House insist on extending the retirement age of justices, the new law should be applied after January 2009.

"This means all retiring judges should retire this year, and the extension of their pension age can be applied from January 2009," he said.

Benjamin questioned why no less than eight serving justices, including Bagir, had not submitted their resignation letters six months before they were set to retire this year.

"If the justices wanted to retire this year, they would have had to submit their resignation letters by June at the latest. But none of them has done so," he said.

Bismar Siregar also said the planned extension of the retirement age should be canceled, claiming it was opposed by many community members.

I think the House needs to involve the public in discussions on this issue," he said.

The former Supreme Court judges also criticized the poor performance of the current justices in resolving cases.

"We see the current justi-ces making so many study tours to other countries, leaving many legal cases yet to be resolved on time," Benjamin said.