Hans David Tampubolon and Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 09/25/2010 11:05 AM
The House of Representatives may summon the President should he continue to ignore a Constitutional Court ruling stating that Hendarman Supandji was no longer attorney general (AG).
“If the House is not satisfied with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s response to the ruling, then it can use its right of inquiry followed by its right to state a political opinion on the matter,” People’s Consultative Assembly Deputy Speaker Hajriyanto Tohari said Friday.
He added that non-compliance to the ruling by the President could set a bad precedent.
The court on Wednesday ruled that Hendarman was no longer the legitimate attorney general as his tenure should have ended along with the first tenure of the President and his Cabinet in 2009.
The ruling was made based on a judicial review request on the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) law filed by former justice and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra.
The House Commission on justice and human rights postponed a meeting scheduled for Monday with Hendarman amid the controversy over the legitimacy of his role. “We had to postpone the meeting until we get clarification on his status,” Tjatur Sapto Edy, the commission’s deputy chairman, was quoted as saying Friday by news portal kompas.com.
The Presidential Palace is sticking to its own interpretation of the Court ruling, saying the ruling did not say Hendarman’s remaining tenure was illegitimate despite chief justice Mahfud MD’s explanation to the contrary.
State Secretary Sudi Silalahi said the President was deciding on a replacement for Hendarman and that he wanted a candidate who would not be a figure of controversy.
“The [selection] process is ongoing. We urge patience,” Sudi said.
The names of possible candidates to replace the attorney general are making the rounds as the Presidential Palace is under growing pressure to appoint Hendarman’s replacement.
Some of the people tipped to lead the AGO include the candidates fighting it out for a key Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) post, Bambang Widjojanto and Busyro Muqoddas.
Anticorruption activists view the two as clean figures and have suggested that whoever loses out on the vacant KPK seat should be a good choice to replace Hendarman.
Now that the President has to appoint a replacement sooner than planned, other possible candidates have started to emerge.
Prosperous Justice Party legislator Nasir Djamil said Friday that it was not easy to find a candidate with a flawless track record.
Nevertheless, he said, veteran lawyer and rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis, as well as House Commission III head Benny K. Harman from Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party, were good potential choices.
University of Indonesia criminologist Adrianus Meliala said Mas Achmad Santosa, the former acting deputy chief of the KPK and currently a member of the government’s Judicial Mafia Taskforce, could be a good candidate.
“Apart from being a member of the taskforce, Mas Achmad has established good relations with the AGO for some time,” Adrianus said.
While many observers feel the AGO is best led by an outsider generally perceived as free of influences and therefore expected to reform the institution, others claim career prosecutors remain the best choice, as resistance to reforms could play an important role.
Adrianus said deputy attorney general for special crimes Amari could be a good internal candidate given his “high integrity and capability”, while Nasir said he preferred deputy attorney general for internal monitoring Marwan Efendi.
