Two politicians elected as Constitutional Court judges

Lilian Budianto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 03/15/2008 2:30 AM  |  Headlines

The House of Representatives on Friday elected three lawmakers as Constitutional Court judges for the 2008-2013 period.

Members of the House's Commission III on legal affairs and human rights also elected the current court president, Jimly Asshiddiqie.

Jimly was ranked second with 37 votes, behind Mahfud MD of the National Awakening Party who secured 38 votes.

Akil Mochtar of the Golkar Party followed with 32 votes.

The vote was preceded by an examination of 16 candidates, including current Constitutional Court judge Harjono, who secured 15 votes. Three of the candidates were House politicians.

The law on the Constitutional Court says the House, the President and the Supreme Court are each entitled to appoint three new judges to replace the incumbent nine judges, whose terms will expire in August.

Mahfud served as the Defense Minister and Justice and Human Rights Minister during the brief administration of President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid from October 1999 to July 2001.

A professor of law from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Mahfud also won support from the Democrat Party to run for the position of judge.

Akil is currently a House legislator for two consecutive terms. He lost the election for the West Kalimantan governor last year before he turned his eye toward the Constitutional Court.

He is currently pursuing a doctorate degree at Padjadjaran University in Bandung.

Jimly is serving his second term as Constitutional Court chief. The professor of law at the University of Indonesia, who was involved in the amendment of 1945 Constitution, initially refused to contest another term, but changed his mind following broad support from House members.

Commission's spokesperson Trimedya Pandjaitan said Mahfud would take office in April to replace one of three retiring judges.

Jimly and Akil will follow suit after the current judges' terms expire in August.

The three judges set to retire before their terms expire include Achmad Roestandi, Mohammad Laica Marzuki who would retire on May 30, and Soedarsono who would retire on June 30.

The Supreme Court has appointed chief of South Sulawesi High Court Sanusi Arsad and chief of Southeast Sulawesi High Court Muhammad Alim to replace Soedarsono and Laica.

Political expert of Gajah Mada University Denny Indrayana told The Jakarta Post the House had elected the best of 16 candidates.

"They are all people with proven qualifications to fill the positions," he said.

"They are the most outstanding among the other candidates."

But he said Mahfud and Akil must maintain independency and fairness when handing down verdicts, because of their link to political parties.

The two would have to relinquish their party membership before serving in the court.

"One of the tasks of the Constitutional Court is to give verdicts on disputes over general election results among political parties," Denny said.

"They have to prove that they can do the job without being affected by the interests of any political parties."

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