Jakarta – Parliament will most likely pass the corruption court bill proposed by the government, which places the graft court under the jurisdiction of district courts, and call for more career judges than non-career ones.
On Tuesday, with public pressure mounting for the passage of the bill and little time left to deliberate it, most of the parties at the House of Representatives look likely to agree on the government's draft, which anticorruption activists say is severely flawed.
Parties aligned to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, including the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP), all voiced support for the draft.
The PAN's Arbab Paproeka, chairman of the special committee deliberating the bill, said the committee would very likely adopt what the government had proposed.
"It seems the Corruption Court will be established under the district judicial system," he said.
"That means the Corruption Court will fall under the Supreme Court. We also aim to establish a system whereby corruption courts are available at all district courts in the country's 33 provinces."
The biggest party at the House, the Golkar Party, also looks amenable to the bill, particularly over the need to have more career judges than ad hoc ones.
Golkar's Dewi Asmara said the proportion of judges was less important than establishing firm criteria of ad hoc judges.
"The first thing we need to do is set a clear minimum criteria for ad hoc judges," she said. "For instance, what field should an ad hoc judge specialize in?"
Meanwhile, antigraft groups, including Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), say the government's draft is deeply flawed and if passed will be a major setback to corruption eradication efforts.
One of the main points of contention in the bill is the call for the Corruption Court to be established under the much-derided district court system.
ICW says establishing the Corruption Court this way will negate all efforts made thus far in the fight against corruption, mostly because district courts are considered highly corrupt.
In a copy of the draft obtained by The Jakarta Post, Article 2 stipulates the graft court should fall under the district court jurisdiction.
ICW also wants the House and the government to call for more ad hoc (appointed) judges to serve in the Corruption Court, rather than career judges, saying that ad hoc judges are far more professional, due to the fact they have better track records of sending corruption suspects to jail.
Article 27 of the draft stipulates the proportion of career judges in to ad hoc ones be 3:1.
Transparency International Indonesia (TII) secretary-general Teten Masduki has called for the Corruption Court to be separated from the Supreme Court, thus maintaining its integrity through its independence.
Teten also said he wanted the current higher proportion of ad hoc judges to be maintained.
A 2006 ruling by the Constitutional Court stipulated a new law on the Corruption Court must be passed by December 2009, or the current court would lose its legal standing. The current House will end its term in September. (hdt)