Supreme Court told to select judges strictly

Paper Edition | Page: 4

Coalition of Anticorruption Civil Society Groups says that the Supreme Court should not rush its selection of corruption court justices.

The coalition also urged the court to assess candidate track records to find the best candidates to fill 80 vacancies on the benches of the nation’s corruption courts.

“The Supreme Court should drop any candidate if it finds something fishy about their track record,” the coalition said in a statement on Friday.

As of August, 89 candidates had passed administrative screening. They will later undergo profile assessments.

The candidates making the first cut were mostly lawyers, although current court employees and academics were also represented.

The Supreme Court began its selection process early this year.

The public was not informed about the process or the criteria used to select the candidates recruited for the corruption court.

The coalition described the arrest of two corruption court justices in Semarang, West Java, on bribery allegations a few weeks ago as shameful.