AGO's resistance to outsiders inappropriate

House of Representatives speaker Marzuki Alie lashed out on Friday at the Attorney General’s Office for its open resistance to leadership by an outsider.

"Such an attitude does not need to be publicly displayed," Marzuki of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party said.

He was commenting on Attorney General Hendarman Supandji who recently said he preferred a successor from within the AGO. Later on, around 8,000 prosecutors declared their support for Hendarman's wish.

Most non-career prosecutors have never completed their terms as the attorney general, partly due to internal resistance. Abdurrahman Saleh was the latest outsider to lead the AGO with an aim to push reforms within the corps which many have perceived as corrupt.

In 2005 Hendarman, a career state prosecutor, took over from Abdurrahman, who only served for one year.