As the end of the current term approaches, the House of Representatives has approved four out of the five Supreme Court (MA) justice candidates selected by the Judicial Commission (KY), leaving the task of selecting another six to the newly elected lawmakers who will officially begin their terms on Oct. 1.

On Thursday, 38 of the 50 lawmakers on House Commission III overseeing legal affairs endorsed the selection of Amran Suadi, the deputy head of the Surabaya Religious High Court, Sudrajat Dimyati, a Pontianak High Court judge;,Is Sudaryono, head of the Medan State Administrative High Court, and Purwosusilo, a director general of the religious judiciary unit at the MA.

Only 13 lawmakers voted to approve Muslich Bambang Luqmono, a judge from the Jayapura High Court.

'€œMuslich handled the Mpok Minah case. We seriously considered this before we finally made our decision,'€ Commission III deputy chairman Al Muzzammil Yusuf said, explaining the voting result.

Muzzammil, a politician from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), was referring to a 2009 case Muslich, in his capacity as the presiding judge of the Purwokerto Court of Central Java, sentenced a 55-year-old resident, Minah, to a month and 15 days in jail for stealing three cacao fruits, each worth approximately Rp 2,000 (17 US cents) from a plantation that belonged to PT Rumpun Sari Antan.

Minah was eventually acquitted after the case triggered protests from human rights campaigners nationwide.

Muzzammil of Commission III also cited Muslich'€™s inconsistent responses during a confirmation hearing administered by lawmakers as a factor driving the lack of support for him to fill one of the 10 empty justice seats at the Supreme Court.

'€œBesides personality and track record, candidates'€™ logic and consistency are also important,'€ the PKS politician emphasized.

Unlike Commission III'€™s thorough examination of Muslich'€™s track record, however, lawmakers seemed to pay little attention to the controversy surrounding selected candidate Sudrajat, who was dropped from a similar selection process last year over an allegation of bribery.

Sudrajat failed to secure a selection at Commission III last year after reportedly being caught handing over a brown envelope believed to contain bribe money to a lawmaker in a restroom on the sidelines of a confirmation hearing at the House.

Muzzammil of Commission III defended the commission'€™s decision to approve Sudrajat, saying that the allegation was unproven and thus the KY had exonerated Sudrajat of wrongdoing.

In February, the KY began to experience resistance from the House when lawmakers rejected all three justice candidates the commission proposed. The move followed the Constitutional Court'€™s decision to eliminate their role in the selection of candidates.

Under the ruling, the House can now only approve or reject selected candidates and is no longer able to choose one justice from three candidates short-listed by the commission.

The commission also set a new rule that justices can no longer apply for a Supreme Court seat in consecutive attempts, nor after having failed to secure a post after two attempts. It also bans career judges from applying for a non-career enrollment track.

Although it respected the House'€™s Thursday decision, the KY, which is tasked with assessing and later forwarding justice candidates to the House, questioned why lawmakers did not vote for Muslich.

'€œI respect the decision, but the five candidates are all the same caliber,'€ said Taufiqurrohman Syahuri, a commissioner for judicial recruitment.

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