House cancels plenary meeting on Supreme Court bill

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 10/06/2008 12:50 PM | National

A scheduled plenary meeting on the Supreme Court bill has been canceled, House of Representatives' Speaker Agung Laksono said Monday.

The meeting was canceled "because House Commission III (which oversees legal affair) is not ready to report its meeting on the bill result yet," he said as quoted by Tempointeraktif.com.

Agung said he received a letter from the commission stating the discussion on the bill was still at the "synchronization stage", where they were still discussing major issues, including the Supreme Court judges' retirement age.

The bill has aroused debate over the proposal to extend the retirement age of Supreme Court judges to 70 years, which would pave the way for current chief justice Bagir Manan, 67, to stay in office for the next three years.

Some observers suggest there is a conflict of interest between certain parties and the government in retaining Bagir as chief justice. Bagir has long been affiliated with The Golkar Party, the chairman of which is Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Agung, a Golkar lawmaker, said if Commission III finished its meeting Monday, then it was possible for House's Consultative Body to hold a meeting over the bill on the same day.

"But there's no pressure on this. There's no certain target," he said.

Agung said the discussion over the bill was being carried out simultaneously with two other bills on Judicial Commission and Constitutional Court. (dre)

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