TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Commission proposes salary hike for judges
Asep Rahmat Fajar: (Tribunnews
Change Size
Asep Rahmat Fajar: (Tribunnews.com/Herudin)
As a group of judges have threatened to stage strike action to demand better pay, the Judicial Commission is making a proposal to increase the salaries of judges throughout the country.
The commission said the proposed salary increase could help bolster judges’ professionalism and integrity.
“We have conducted research, which suggests that decent basic salaries for lower court judges is Rp 7.1 million [US$781],” a Judicial Commission member, Jaja Ahmad Jayus, said on Tuesday.
He said that with this amount, judges could pay for their basic needs from housing and food to transportation. The average pay for lower court judges is Rp 5.5 million.
Commission spokesperson Asep Rahmat Fajar said that the proposed figure was based on a survey that was begun in 2008 and restarted three months ago.
Meanwhile, a group of judges have announced their plan to strike to demand better pay. The judges have set up a group on Facebook, which has more than 5,000 supporters.
“Better to go on strike during a trial than accept a bribe during a trial,” the group said in its Facebook profile.
Responding to the planned strike, the Judicial Commission has arranged a meeting with the Administrative Reforms Ministry, State Secretariat and Presidential Advisory Council on April 9.
“We realize that it’s less likely that a salary rise will happen this year, but at least we must have the political will,” Jaja said.
Asep, however, said that raising judges’ salaries would not immediately be reflected by the quality of the country’s judicial system.
Chief of the Jakarta High Court, Ansyahrul, blamed the poor performance of judges on the bureaucratic confusion plaguing the judiciary.
“The position of judges should be equal to that of other state officials but they are paid as if they were low-ranking public servants,” he said.
Yuri Andriansyah, a judge from the Parigi District Court in Central Sulawesi said he had not had a salary increase for the past four years.
“We need an adjustment so that we can perform our roles properly,” he said.
The National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) said that it had devised a new salary arrangement for judges.
“The problem is we never obtain valid data on what the judges themselves really need; we only get information on what the system requires from them,” she said.
