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View all search resultsMK justice selection process will be transparent: Govt
The government has confirmed that the process to select a Constitutional Court (MK) justice to replace chief justice Hamdan Zoelva, whose tenure ends in January, will be done transparently amid calls from legal activists who were concerned that last year's selection was done behind closed doors by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
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T
he government has confirmed that the process to select a Constitutional Court (MK) justice to replace chief justice Hamdan Zoelva, whose tenure ends in January, will be done transparently amid calls from legal activists who were concerned that last year's selection was done behind closed doors by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Although the President has yet to start mulling who will replace Hamdan, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly assured the selection process would be transparent.
'It will be done transparently,' said Yasonna who refused to elaborate about the mechanism on Wednesday in the Palace compound.
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 tenures.
Hamdan, whose tenure ends on Jan. 7 next year and can be re-appointed for a second time, comes from the government's selection.
The Constitutional Court, which is often deemed one of the country's most powerful institutions since it is the final adjudicator of disputes on the interpretation of national laws and election results, is currently hearing several judicial reviews related to politics.
Last year, legal campaigners criticized Yudhoyono for selecting former law and justice minister Patrialis Akbar as a Constitutional Court justice in a vetting process that took place behind closed doors. At that time, they questioned the reason behind the appointment of Patrialis, who was a former National Mandate Party (PAN) politician, because the court was expected settle several electoral disputes ahead of the 2014 general election.
Fearing Jokowi would follow Yudhoyono's step, and given there is only one month left for Jokowi to select the new justice, Erwin Natosmal, an activist from the Indonesian Legal Roundtable (ILR), has reminded Jokowi to hold a transparent selection process to give the public the opportunity to monitor it.
Erwin has also urged Jokowi not to feel that he owes Hamdan, who is a former Crescent Star Party (PBB) lawmaker, because of the presidential election dispute case in which the court confirmed that Jokowi had won the election.(dic)(+++)
