"Should [Jokowi] entrust me [to sit as a justice for a second term], God willing," Hamdan said on Wednesday.

Hamdan made the remark after a meeting at the Presidential Office where President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo summoned the nine justices to discuss several issues, including an upcoming international constitutional forum.

However, Hamdan, a former Crescent Star Party (PBB) lawmaker, said the meeting did not discuss the justice post.

Hamdan, whose tenure ends on Jan. 7, next year, can be re-appointed for a second time.

The Constitution states that the Constitutional Court must have nine justices, with the House of Representatives, the President and the Supreme Court each entitled to appoint three justices to serve five-year terms. While the 2011 Constitutional Court Law stipulates that the nomination of justice candidates should be conducted transparently and with participation by the public.

Although the President has yet to start considering candidates to replace Hamdan, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly confirmed the selection process would be conducted transparently amid calls from legal activists who were concerned about last year's closed selection carried out by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Last year, legal campaigners criticized Yudhoyono for selecting former law and justice minister Patrialis Akbar as a Constitutional Court justice in a vetting process held behind closed doors. At that time, they questioned the reasons behind the appointment of Patrialis, who was a former National Mandate Party (PAN) politician, given that the court was expected to settle a lot of electoral disputes following the 2014 elections.(dic)(+++)

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