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Academics make up majority of candidates
The Judicial Commission selection committee announced on Thursday 14 candidates — mostly academics — to be submitted to the House of Representatives for further review before seven are selected to serve as the next commission members
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T
he Judicial Commission selection committee announced on Thursday 14 candidates — mostly academics — to be submitted to the House of Representatives for further review before seven are selected to serve as the next commission members.
Established in 2005 after an amendment to the Constitution, the Judicial Commission, tasked with overseeing judges and recommending names for Supreme Court justices, had been led by seven members headed by Busyro Muqoddas as chief until 2008 when one of its commissioners, Irawady Joenoes, was sentenced to eight years in prison for accepting bribes.
The commission has since then been run by six members, all of whose terms will end this year.
“From the 247 candidates who submitted applications, we have managed to select 14 names we believe we have chosen objectively and carefully in each selection phase,” selection committee chairwoman Harkristuti Harkrisnowo told a press conference at the Presidential Office on Thursday after reporting the selection results to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
“We reported to the President about the selection process that we ran from April to September. We reported the numbers of candidates that passed each selection phase, starting with the administrative phase, letter writing, profile assessment and lastly the interview stage.”
Eight out of 14 candidates are academics. They are Jawahir Thontowi, Suparman Marzuki, Ibrahim, Hemansyah, Taufiqurrohman, Eman Suparman, Hasanuddin and Jaja Ahmad Jayus.
The others are two judges Abbas Said and JMT Simatupang, two public figures Imam Anshori Saleh and Abdul Ficar Hadjar, advocate Mangasa Manurung, and advocate-turned-academic Sumali.
None of the names are well-known to the general public. Commenting on this, Harkristuti said, “Their names might not be as familiar as those of the candidates for the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission] leader. They’re not celebrities.”
“But, we have not had an easy job here, as we have had to consider the quality, integrity, track record and personality of each candidate... We hope the House will choose the best ones,” she said.
Harkristuti, who is also the director general for human rights at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, added that the selection of the 14 candidates was also based on the selection board’s vision for the future of the Judicial Commission, as well as public opinion.
She also said that the 17 members of the selection committee, consisting of government officials, public figures and academics, among others, had vowed to monitor the work of the new Judicial Commission members once they were selected by the House.
Presidential expert staff for legal affairs Denny Indrayana told the same press conference that the President “appreciated the selection committee’s good work”, adding that their effort would support the President’s resolution to reform the country’s law enforcement sector, which is notorious for rampant corruption.
