Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is considering who will replace Hendarman Supandji as the AGO chief. The following are the names of those from outside the Attorney General's Office who have surfaced as potential candidates.
Busyro Muqoddas
The outgoing chairman of the Judicial Commission is now a strong nominee to serve on the respected Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK. Antigraft activists see him as the right person to lead the AGO, should he lose his KPK bid.
Born in Yogyakarta on July 17, 1952, Busyro is known as a fierce critic of the Supreme Court. He was involved in verbal spats with former chief justice Bagir Manan as many of the Judicial Commission's calls to act against rogue judges were ignored by the top court.
Busyro is a law graduate of the Indonesian Islamic University and holds a master's degree from Gadjah Mada University in his hometown.
Bambang Widjojanto
He is in a head-to-head competition with Busyro for antigraft commission leadership.
A native of Jakarta, Bambang is a renowned human rights campaigner who has spent much of his time providing legal help to the poor and marginalized, while being a member of various legal aid agencies. He won the Kennedy Human Rights Award in 1993.
Born on Oct. 18, 1959, Bambang is also active in nongovernmental groups such as the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the National Judiciary Reform Consortium (KRHN) and the Indonesia Corruption Watch.
He graduated from the law faculty of Jakarta's Jayabaya University in 1984 and completed his postgraduate degree in the UK in 2001. He now teaches law at Trisakti University.
Bambang rose to public notice when he led the defense team for two KPK deputy chairmen who were facing controversial criminal charges late last year.
Todung Mulya Lubis
One of the country's top lawyers, Todung has won international recognition as a leading antigraft campaigner. He chairs Transparency International Indonesia.
As a lawyer, he once represented Time magazine in a defamation suit filed by the Suharto family, as well as many top multinational corporations in legal disputes with Indonesian authorities.
After graduating from the faculty of law at the University of Indonesia in 1974, he continued his study at the Institute of American and International Law, Dallas (1977), Boalt Law School, University of California, Berkeley (1978 and 1990) and Harvard Law School (1988).
Born in South Tapanuli on July 4, 1949, Todung is also known as a productive writer on legal affairs and has published several books and written many articles for various newspapers and magazines. He recently declined an offer to join Yudhoyono's Democratic Party.
Yunus Husein
The chairman of the anti-money laundering agency, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), always keeps a low profile in front of the media, despite his broad knowledge about suspicious money flows to state officials.
Rarely does he comment on high-profile graft scandals after the agency reports to police and the AGO. In a May hearing with lawmakers, Yunus admitted he had no courage to lead the KPK because "there are too many graft-ridden officials who are powerful in this country."
Yunus was born on Dec. 29, 1956, in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara. He is a 1981 law graduate from the University of Indonesia and earned his doctorate from the same university in 2003 and a masters from the American University, Washington, in 1986.
The Indonesia Corruption Watchdog named him as a potential candidate to lead the AGO. Yunus is now also serving on the presidential-sanctioned Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force.
Harkristuti Harkrisnowo
She is the director general of human rights at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, her first post with the government after spending most of her career as a rights campaigner and criminal law expert.
Born in Bogor, on Jan. 25, 1956, Harkristuti graduated with a law degree from the University of Indonesia and led the university's Center for Human Rights Studies. She earned a PhD from the College of Criminal Justice at the Sam Houston State University, Texas.
Mas Achmad Santosa
Another law graduate from the University of Indonesia, he was largely an unknown figure until the president appointed him as the acting deputy chairman of KPK last year. His involvement with the state law agency has mainly been behind the scenes.
Mas participated in the government reform team for the AGO and the Supreme Court, had a spell as the expert staff coordinator for then attorney general Abdurrahman Saleh and was an adviser for Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia.
Mas was born in Jakarta on March 10, 1956, and earned his master's degree from York University.