T

he selection committee tasked to select a new Constitutional Court (MK) justice decided to drop the bid of Hamdan Zoelva, after the court'€™s current chief justice failed to show up for an interview on Tuesday.

The committee, set up by President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo to find a replacement for Hamdan, whose term expires in early January, decided only to grill the six candidates present during the first-stage interview on Tuesday.

Hamdan, who could be reappointed for a second term, declined to join the interview process after sending a letter on Monday saying that he would not partake in the process as it would compromise his current position as one of the court'€™s nine justices and its chief justice.

State administrative law professor Saldi Isra, who leads the new court justice selection team, said his team would ensure that they would only judge candidates participating in the whole process, indicating that they would ensure that Hamdan could not take a shortcut.

'€œWe will only recommend those who undergo and pass the whole process,'€ Saldi said on Tuesday after the committee wrapped up the interview sessions at the State Secretariat building. '€œFrom the very beginning, we'€™ve said all will be treated equally.'€

On Tuesday, the team also announced that five out of 15 candidates passed the first-stage interview session.

The candidates are I Dewa Gede Palguna, a former Constitutional Court justice and a constitutional law professor at the Udayana University in Bali; Imam Anshori Saleh, a Judicial Commission commissioner; Yuliandri, a law professor at the Andalas University in West Sumatra; Aidul Fitriaciada Azhari, a lecturer at the Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta (UMS) in Central Java; and Indra Perwira, a law lecturer at the Padjajaran University in West Java.

The five individuals are set to undergo a medical test next week and join another interview session with three independent experts on Dec. 30.

'€œIn deciding who passed the interview process, we weighed their capabilities and independence; while we are still also digging deeper on their integrity. We are still waiting for the verification result by the Corruption Eradication Commission [KPK] and the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre [PPATK] [on their wealth and financial backgrounds],'€ Saldi said.

On Tuesday, the committee grilled Aidul on his political backgrounds, particularly whether his affiliation with the Indonesia'€™s second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, would affect his independence and whether or not he has connections with the Hanura Party chairman Wiranto who backed Jokowi in the July presidential election.

On Monday, the committee also raised similar concerns for Imam, who served as a National Awakening Party (PKB) lawmaker from 2004 to 2009.

The committee has previously said they would treat all the candidates equally regardless of their backgrounds and ensure a transparent selection process after last year activists criticized then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for selecting former law and justice minister Patrialis Akbar as a court justice in a vetting process held behind closed doors.

Saldi declined to comment if Jokowi could later consider Hamdan as his pick although the former Crescent Star Party (PBB) politician had been dropped from the current selection process.

'€œNo, I can'€™t comment on that matter. We only do our job here [as the selection team],'€ Saldi said.

Representing a coalition of civil society groups and legal activists, Miko Susanto Ginting from the Center of Indonesian Legal and Policies Studies (PSHKI) said he applauded the government efforts in ensuring a transparent selection process.

'€œSo far, the process is transparent where we, the public and the media were given a chance to monitor and asked questions to the candidates,'€ said Miko.