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Akil jumps before being pushed
Bribery suspect Akil Mochtar has officially resigned from his position as the Constitutional Court (MK) chief justice only hours after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called for swift reform of the institution
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ribery suspect Akil Mochtar has officially resigned from his position as the Constitutional Court (MK) chief justice only hours after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called for swift reform of the institution.
The court announced Akil's resignation just hours after an overnight meeting of all eight justices in the institution to discuss Yudhoyono's request for reform, following the
arrest of Akil over bribery.
On his Saturday night speech, Yudhoyono also announced that the government would draft a regulation in lieu of law, known as Perpu, to propose a better selection process for the court justices.
'It [Akil's arrest] greatly impacts the image and authority of the court,' deputy chief justice Hamdan Zoelva said in a press conference, flanked by fellow justices Anwar Usman, Arief Hidayat, Ahmad Fadil Sumadi, Maria Farida Indrati, Muhammad Alim and Patrialis Akbar.
The court also applauded Yudhoyono's quick response to the crisis by summoning the heads of six state institutions to the Presidential Palace on Saturday.
However, no representative of the court was invited to the meeting. Officials invited to the meeting were Supreme Court chief justice Hatta Ali, Judicial Commission chairman Suparman Marzuki, Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) chairman Hadi Poernomo, House of Representatives speaker Marzuki Alie, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker Sidarto Danusubroto and Regional Representatives Council (DPD) speaker Irman Gusman.
Yudhoyono's plan to save the court has come under fire from former Constitutional Court chief justice Jimly Asshidiqie saying that a Perpu to initiate reform of the court is 'unconstitutional'.
Jimly said that a regulation should not be issued based on a spontaneous reaction to respond to public outcry.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto defended the government's plan to save the court, saying that Jimly's statement was 'misleading'.
Djoko said that the Constitution vested Yudhoyono with the right to issue any regulation in lieu of a law.
He cited Article 22 of the State Constitution, which stipulates that the President has the right to establish regulations in a lieu of law with consent from the House of Representatives.
'So it's not true that the government's plan to issue the Perpu is a spontaneous reaction,' Djoko said.
Former chief justice Akil was arrested and named suspect by KPK investigators last week after allegedly taking a bribe from Golkar lawmaker Chairun Nisa from the House of Representatives' Commission II overseeing regional autonomy and a businessman named Cornelius.
The KPK had also named Akil a suspect in another case on the Lebak elections legal dispute the next day.
He was accused of taking Rp 1 billion (US$87,000) in bribes from businessman Tubagus Chaeri Wardana, the sibling of Banten Governor Ratu Atut Choisiyah, also a Golkar politician, through a lawyer Susi Tur Handayani.
The KPK also announced that its investigators had found illegal drugs, including four marijuana joints and two shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) pills, inside Akil's office during their search last week.
On Sunday, officials from the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) arrived at the KPK headquarters in South Jakarta, to carry out a drug test on Akil.
Sr. Comr. Slamet Pribadi, deputy head of the BNN investigation division, said that if the test was positive, Akil could be charged with possession of illegal drugs and could be sentenced to 12 years in prison or Rp 8 billion in fines.
The arrest of Akil, so far the highest-ranking state official, have further damaged the reputation of the country's judicial system, particularly the court, a survey by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) found.
The LSI found in its latest opinion poll, conducted only two days after Akil's arrest, that the approval rating for the court has hit an all time low, even below other institutions deemed the most corrupt in the country, the House of Representatives and the National Police.
Only 28 percent of 1,200 respondents interviewed for the survey said they believed that the court could still function.
