Jakarta – Judicial Commission spokesman Mukti Fajar Nur Dewata has said president-elect Prabowo Subianto supports efforts to improve the welfare of Indonesian judges.
Mukti noted that Judicial Commission member Amzulian Rifai had met with Prabowo recently.
"Some time ago, the Judicial Commission met with president-elect Pak Prabowo. Hopefully, the executive branch can support what is concerning you all [the judges]," Mukti said during a meeting with the Indonesian Judges Solidarity (SHI) movement at the Supreme Court Building on Monday, as quoted by kompas.com.
According to the Indonesian Judges Association (Ikahi), judges, particularly those in remote regions, have struggled with stagnant wages for 12 years, making it difficult to meet their needs.
Mukti said the SHI movement's proposal to enhance judges' welfare, in particular their salaries, was already being discussed by the relevant authorities, including the Finance Ministry and the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas).
He said it was important to improve judges' welfare to prevent ethics violations and maintain integrity within the judiciary.
"This is closely related to the potential for [...] acts that sometimes violate the code of ethics and integrity. In addition to selecting supreme court justices, the Judicial Commission also supervises judges," Mukti said.
Meanwhile, Finance Ministry budget director general Isa Rachmatarwata confirmed that the ministry was considering the demands for salary increases.
The ministry has approved a salary increase "in principle", based on a proposal from the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry (KemenPAN-RB) and the Supreme Court.
"We are paying attention to that, and the continued use of old remuneration and regulations is also a consideration for us for improvement in a segmented and partial manner," Isa told the meeting, as quoted by tempo.co.
Separately, Prabowo's brother Hashim Djojohadikusomo said during a discussion at Kadin Tower in Jakarta on Monday that his sibling's administration would be committed to increasing judges' salaries.
"This will be addressed by Pak Prabowo. We must reward law enforcement," Hashim said, as quoted by kompas.com.
Increasing judges' salaries was a priority not only because it had not been raised in the past 12 years, he said, but because it was part of Prabowo's eight-point Asta Cita campaign mission.
The salaries and benefits of judges are outlined in Government Regulation No. 94/2012, which has yet to be amended.