Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – The government's plan to establish a corruption court in every region throughout the country has been hit by a lack of funding, mostly due to the fact that the Supreme Court's proposed Rp 400 billion (US$44 million) budget to build courts in 17 provinces has not been approved.
A spokesman for the Supreme Court, Hatta Ali, said Friday that there was not sufficient personnel to manage even the first seven courts in the country, let alone a further 17.
The Supreme Court is recruiting for ad hoc corruption court justices and has so far selected 27 judges, but needs 61.
"It is impossible to run. seven corruption courts and appeal courts. with such limited human resources. Maybe we will just open in three or four provinces with (judges) in the fourth province doubling in other provinces," Hatta said.
"We are planning to recruit more and we have asked for funding but so far it has yet to be approved. We are very sorry that we have yet to be able to come up with the next recruitment schedule for ad hoc judges."
In late April, the Supreme Court asked for a budget of Rp 400 billion to establish corruption courts in 17 provinces. The money would cover the recruitment of ad hoc judges and the land and construction costs for the court buildings.
The Finance Ministry previously turned down a proposal from the Supreme Court to provide an additional Rp 700 million to its Rp 4.6 billion budget for the recruitment of ad hoc judges.
Hatta said the court could not do anything about the funding problem that it was facing. "What can we do? In the meantime we are just going to wait and see how the government will react."
The 2009 Corruption Court Law mandates the formation of a corruption court in every regency and municipality throughout the country. The courts fall under the supervision of local district courts.
The Supreme Court has established corruption courts in seven provinces and is targeting to build courts in 10 other provinces. The remaining 13 provinces are scheduled to be completed in 2011.
But the huge amount of money needed for the formation of courts has drawn public criticism.
Emerson Yuntho, the deputy chairman of the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), told The Jakarta Post that the Supreme Court had arrived at a suspicious figure when it proposed its budget for the courts.
"What are the grounds for that calculation? Their concept is unclear. And besides, why should there be new buildings for corruption courts? Why can't they just be attached to the existing local courts?" he said.
He said the Supreme Court should rethink its strategy of building regional corruption courts.
"If there was a corruption court in every (regency or municipality), the control over them. and the supervision of judges. would be weak. And that would be the same as slowly weakening the courts," he said, adding that establishing more corruption courts in the capital would suffice.