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Jakarta Post

Two final Constitutional Court hopefuls on Jokowi'€™s desk

President Joko “Jokowi”Widodo is to select one of two Constitutional Court justice candidates recommended by a selection committee, which submitted the two names to the Presidential Office on Monday

Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, January 6, 2015 Published on Jan. 6, 2015 Published on 2015-01-06T09:57:00+07:00

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P

resident Joko '€œJokowi'€Widodo is to select one of two Constitutional Court justice candidates recommended by a selection committee, which submitted the two names to the Presidential Office on Monday.

The candidates are I Dewa Gede Palguna, previously court justice between 2003 and 2008 and a constitutional law professor at Udayana University in Bali, and Yuliandri, a law professor at Andalas University in West Sumatra.

Jokowi will inaugurate the chosen candidate as the new justice replacing current chief justice Hamdan Zoelva '€” whose tenure ends on Tuesday '€” at the State Palace on Wednesday.

The committee decided unanimously on Sunday night to choose the pair, whom they deemed to have the necessary qualities to ensure the continuity of the court and its effectiveness as an institution, as well as meet the three requirements of integrity, skills and independence.

'€œMany are concerned that the current court is no better than in the previous period. Therefore, we need someone who can maintain the continuity of court, and who has the qualities to sit as a justice,'€ Refly Harun, a committee member and constitutional law expert, told a press conference after the meeting with Jokowi at the Presidential Office.

The two candidates have also been found by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) to possess no suspicious wealth or financial history.

Palguna and Yuliandri were among five candidates who underwent last week'€™s final interview with two independent experts '€” Franz Magnis Suseno of the Driyakara School of Philosophy, who is known as an advocate of pluralism, and former deputy religious affairs minister Nasaruddin Umar '€” concentrating on the candidates'€™ stances on constitutional rights and religious freedom.

At that time, the 53-year-old Palguna, who is a Hindu, affirmed that religious freedom was guaranteed by the Constitution and that the state had an obligation to protect any religion or belief regardless of its official status.

Meanwhile, Yuliandri, the former director of Andalas University'€™s Center of Constitutional Studies (Pusako), said the cases brought before the Constitutional Court were related to real life and society, adding that the court should consider pluralism in its rulings in terms of how to increase harmony in a pluralistic society.

The committee had previously grilled those candidates who had political affiliations or backgrounds, including Palguna, who is a former cadre of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

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