Jakarta – The Supreme Court (MA) says it regrets a government decision to reduce the Judicial Commission's (KY) 2014 budget by 27 percent.

Supreme Court spokesman Ridwan Mansyur said the decision could affect the hiring of new justices and judges, which could adversely impact the performance of the judiciary.

After learning about the budget cut, the Judicial Commission announced that it would not join the selection sessions for justices and judges, which was required by the Judicial Commission Law.

"In the past four years, we haven't conducted recruitments and this will affect the rotation of our judges," Ridwan said as quoted by tribunnews,com.

With the budget cut, the commission will only receive Rp 57.3 billion (US$4.9 million) as an operational budget for the 2014 fiscal year, down from Rp 83 billion last year. Currently, the commission has only Rp 1.8 billion at its disposal.

With the budget constraints, the commission will only carry out its function in receiving complaints from the public.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/05/28/ma-regrets-budget-cut-ky.html